Prayers Pour In After College Football Coach’s Teenage Daughter Succumbs to 5-Year Cancer Battle

Tragic news has been coming from NC State’s camp as their defensive coordinator, D.J. Eliot’s daughter, Drue Margaret Eliot, has passed away after battling cancer for 5 years. The program has sent its condolences to the DC, and Eliot will not coach against Virginia Tech in Week 5 because of this sad development. Drue was diagnosed with pediatric cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic when she was just 12, and the family has been resilient since her diagnosis.

Drue is the eldest daughter in the Eliot family, and her diagnosis brought significant challenges to the family during a difficult time. They had to navigate the added stress of the pandemic while dealing with her health condition. At that time, DJ Eliot was in Kansas, serving as the defensive coordinator for a football program. Eliot often reflects on the hardships they faced as a family, which impacted not only Drue but also her siblings: her 19-year-old brother Dawson and her younger sisters Page and Reace.

“I don’t even know how to explain the emotions or the thoughts that go through your mind. It’s nothing that you ever expect to hear, and you don’t really have a plan for it. So when we got the news that Drue had cancer, we were devastated, all of us. And you really become a lot closer. Our family is definitely a lot closer now than we were because we’re all going through this together. We had to get a plan in place and attack this cancer, and that took some time,” said Eliot about the diagnosis. After Kansas, when Eliot switched jobs, the family still battled the cancer head-on.

NC State defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot will not coach against Virginia Tech tonight due to a family emergency.

His daughter, Drue, died after a five-year battle with cancer. Thinking of the Eliot family today.

More here: https://t.co/8GItN9jefu pic.twitter.com/AeD9kzEb9D

— Noah Fleischman (@fleischman_noah) September 27, 2025

In the period of the next five years, Eliot went to Temple in 2022 and went to the NFL as the Eagles’ linebackers coach in 2023, later joining Baylor in 2024 as an analyst. Despite those relocations, the family rallied around and had normalcy despite everything. For instance, in 2021, the DC shared a heartfelt picture with Drue from a Cape Cod vacation, showcasing that the family wasn’t letting the diagnosis hamper her daughter’s happiness. But now, despite that resilience and grit, Drue has left the world, and college football is mourning the loss together.

Tributes are pouring in for D.J. Eliot’s family

Throughout the past five years, Drue had received widespread support from the CFB community, with prayers and hopes for her recovery. Even at Drue’s high school, events were dedicated to her, including basketball games where players wore t-shirts honoring him and rallying for her recovery. After Drue’s tragic passing, NC State’s football IG page dedicated a post to her and requested people to join the program to send prayers for Eliot’s family.

“In loving memory, Drue Margaret Eliot, 2007-2025…Please join us in praying for DJ Eliot and his family during this time of tremendous loss,” read the post. Prominent journalist Pete Thamel also sent condolences to Eliot and his family after Drue’s passing. “Prayers with NC State defensive coordinator DJ Eliot. The school announces the passing of his daughter here. Just heartbreaking,” wrote Pete Thamel on X.

The Eliot family hails from Edmond, Oklahoma; it’s where the now-NC State DC graduated from high school, and the family’s life revolves around faith and grit. That faith and belief also resulted in several fundraisers for the family in Kansas for Drue, as the community mobilized around her after her diagnosis. Even now, the community is showing the same support, and that is resulting in widespread support in the country, even among the Virginia Tech fans.

“Oh no… horrible news. Sending love, thoughts, and prayers to Coach DJ Eliot, his family, and the Wolfpack Nation during this tough time. Hokie Nation,” wrote a user on X. While another user described the toll the loss of a child takes on a person. “This is awful news. I can’t even imagine how you cope with the loss of a child. Prayers to the Eliot family.” The Eliot family has shown incredible resilience in such adversity.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Eliot and his whole family during this time of dreadful loss. Essentially Sports will update more on this advancing story throughout the evening. As for the NC State game, in the absence of Eliot, the co-defensive coordinator, Charlton Warren, will take over play-calling duties against Virginia Tech. As for the game, people are genuinely rooting for NC State now, as one user wrote after hearing Drue’s passing, “Rooting for NC State tonight. Genuinely,” wrote the user.

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