A freshman Virginia Tech football player has been charged with murder in connection to the death of a 40-year-old acquaintance, authorities said.

Isimemen Etute, 18, was busted after officers responding to a wellness check Monday night found Jerry Smith dead inside a building on Main Street in Blacksburg, Va., according to police.

Police ruled Smith’s death a homicide, but did not say how he was killed.

Etute was charged with second-degree murder and held in at the Montgomery County Jail, police said.

He has since been suspended from the Virginia Tech football squad, the university said in a Wednesday statement.

“In the case of a felony arrest, the university has the authority to place a student on immediate interim suspension,” the university added.