Edward Aschoff, ESPN college football reporter, dies on 34th birthday

Edward Aschoff, an ESPN college football reporter, died Tuesday on his 34th birthday, according to the sports network.

ESPN said he died "after a brief illness," but did not offer more details.

Earlier this month, he posted about battling pneumonia on Twitter.

Heartfelt tributes from Aschoff's colleagues and friends poured in following the news of his death.

Chris Low, a senior writer for ESPN, said that "lots of tears" went into writing Aschoff's obituary for the website.

"There are those people in our lives who touch our hearts, but [Aschoff] left an indelible mark on our hearts that we will cherish," Low wrote on Twitter.

Andrea Adelson, a reporter for ESPN who co-authored the obituary with Low, wrote that the two had volunteered to write the piece.

"At first I had no idea how to even put into words what I wanted to say. How do you tell the world what Ed meant to you, why everyone loved him so much?," she wrote on Twitter.

"But then I looked at his smile, and I got to work. I had to. For Edward," Adelson wrote.

ESPN issued a statement announcing his death on Tuesday.

"We are very sorry to have to share the devastating news of the tragic passing of friend and ESPN colleague Edward Aschoff," ESPN said. "He died earlier today, his 34th birthday. Our thoughts are with his loved ones, including his fiancée, Katy."

Aschoff had been with the company since 2011 as part of the SEC blog network. In 2017, he moved to Los Angeles for a more expanded national role that included television coverage. Aschoff had previously covered recruiting and Florida football for The Gainesville Sun.

An alum of the University of Florida, the school called him "one of our brightest lights. He will forever be in our hearts."

ESPN and ABC News are both owned by the Walt Disney Company.