PEORIA, Ill. - An Illinois Wesleyan University football player has died after suffering heatstroke during preseason practice last week, school officials said.

Doug Schmied, 21, of Hanna City, died late Wednesday at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

When the 6-foot-3 senior offensive lineman fell ill Friday, temperatures on the practice field were around 90 degrees, said Dennie Bridges, athletic director at the Bloomington-based school.

The accounting and computer science major was first taken to Normal's BroMenn Regional Medical Center, then transferred to Saint Francis on Sunday and placed on a ventilator in an intensive-care unit.

School officials expressed disbelief at his death.

"Doug Schmied's death is an unspeakable tragedy and leaves all of us at Illinois Wesleyan shocked and saddened," said IWU President Richard Wilson in a statement on the school's Web site. "We have lost a valued member of our community."

As news spread Wednesday that Schmied had died students gathered in front of the Evelyn Chapel on campus, some placing candles near the chapel steps.

"It's not so much a goodbye as I'll see you in heaven," one of Schmied's teammates, Levi Derber, told The (Bloomington) Pantagraph. Derber said he and other friends of Schmied were at the hospital Wednesday when Schmied died.

Titans coach Norm Eash said Schmied had been looking forward to the upcoming season, which begins Sept. 3.

"He loved the camaraderie and the relationships he developed," he said. "This is a tremendous blow to our team."

Wilson said there will be a "thorough review" of the events that led up to the player's hospitalization.

"I'm trying to understand as best I can what was done and what should be done in the future," he said.