Arkansas football player discovers would-be assassin hiding in the unlikeliest of places

A normal practice for an Arkansas high school football player turned out to be a potentially life-threatening incident. The only problem was, it was in the last place he would think to look.

The Maumelle High School student had already been warming up and running around for an hour on Thursday when he noticed something weird about his equipment. According to KARK 4, the player noticed a strange sensation before realizing he was feeling movement inside his helmet.

'It really was just shock and disbelief.'

The youngster quickly handed his helmet to a member of the coaching staff, who then passed it off to his coach Kirk Horton. To Horton's surprise, there was a snake embedded into the player's helmet, nestled in between the padding and the exterior shell.

"It really was just shock and disbelief," Horton told the local outlet. "I mean, I've got a better chance of winning the lottery [than] seeing this in my 10 years."

To make matters worse, the snake was later identified as a poisonous cottonmouth, whose venom can damage blood vessels, break down red blood cells, and even cause fatalities.

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Maumelle Animal Services soon responded to the high school and verified the snake type after receiving a report of a possible snake-in-helmet incident.

"When the officers got there and stuff, they examined the helmet, and at that time, they could see that there was a snake in the helmet,” Maumelle Animal Services Director Chris Davis told KATV.

Davis said this was one of the most unusual snake captures he had ever been to.

"I've removed a snake out of a car vent, in the engine, purses, backpacks," Davis went on. "In a helmet? Never."

The cottonmouth is also capable of localized necrosis, and while fatalities are rare, their bites should be taken very seriously. The University of Georgia states that bites typically occur when individuals "attempt to handle, kill, or intentionally harass the snake."

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Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

"It was very unreal," Davis added. "You had to kind of be there and take pictures to say this was real."

While most football players have to worry about hydration or injuries during practice, students at Maumelle High School now also have to worry about the potential of deadly snakes.

"The cottonmouth, in my opinion, is probably the second most venomous snake here in Arkansas," Davis concluded. "I would say the rattlesnake is probably the number one."

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