An ex-college football star has been arrested after allegedly stealing a box truck from a hospital. As reported by the New York Post, 26-year-old Phil Jurkovec had played for Notre Dame, Boston College and the Pitt during his college football career.
A criminal complaint detailed what allegedly happened. It states that a man was in the valet garage at the AHN Wexford Hospital in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
He was loading tables and chairs into the box truck when Jurkovec allegedly hopped into the cab of the truck and drove off. The alleged incident occurred at around 11:20am on September 18.
But it doesn't end there, according to the criminal complaint. It adds that he allegedly drove down roadways for an amount of time before being stopped by cops.
He ended up being booked on two felony charges. These are one count of theft by unlawful taking, and one count of receiving stolen property.
He has remained in jail since his arrest as he was "unable to post bail", per court records.
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The College Football Star Could Have Had a Pro Career
This comes just two years after Jurkovec was placed into a minicamp with the Pittsburgh Steelers in order to assess his skill. Whilst he didn't end up receiving an offer from them, he said in 2024 that his outlook was positive.
"I'm excited," he explained to Trib Live about the opportunity. "We'll see, I'm going to give it my best shot." He had changed from being a quarterback to being a tight end.
"I just looked for a new position to play," he recalled, "and see where I can help out. I learned a lot, I was just practicing, doing my best, seeing what would come of it."
The article also said that he "had yet to formulate alternate plans after football", but was hoping that the Steelers would have offered him a position.
In any case, this didn't happen, and it looks like his professional career may have ended there. Either way, this is an unfortunate series of events. We hope that justice is served appropriately in this case.
