Top H.S. Football Recruit Dion Stutts Dead At 18 After Utility Vehicle Accident

Top high school football recruit Dion Stutts -- a defensive lineman who was committed to playing for the Univ. of Arkansas in 2024 -- tragically died on Tuesday following a utility vehicle accident ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

A spokesperson for the Panola County Sheriff's Office tells us ... the incident occurred on Stutts' family farm in Batesville, Miss.

The rep said Stutts had been driving in a side-by-side with another person ... when it somehow crashed. Stutts' passenger was uninjured and was able to try to get help for the football player -- but he was sadly later pronounced deceased.

He was just 18 years old.

An investigation into the wreck remains ongoing, the police spokesperson said.

The Razorbacks -- who accepted a commitment from Stutts back in March -- said in a statement Wednesday they're devastated over the news.

"We are heartbroken over the passing of Dion Stutts," the team wrote on its Twitter page. "He was a tremendous young man with a bright future ahead of him. We were as excited to add him to our program as he was to be a Razorback."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his mother Shante and father Dino along with his entire family as they deal with this loss."

Stutts attended Memphis University School in Tennessee ... and in addition to being a force on the football field, he also starred for the school's wrestling team.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound athlete had racked up multiple scholarship offers, including ones from Texas A&M, South Carolina and Mississippi State -- before he committed to Arkansas.

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of rising senior Dion Stutts," MUS athletics said in a statement.

Added Univ. of Memphis head football coach Ryan Silverfield, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Dion Stutts and the entire MUS community."