It could have been dehydration. And as for the account by the coaches, George O'Leary is the infamous resume padder.
The player said after he recovered enough to go back to his room, he still was too ill to walk or go eat. He said the team totally abandoned him, gave him no help at all except for his room-mate who brought him food etc.
When he got well enough, he phoned Steve Spurrier at Florida and asked if he would give him a scholarship. Spurrier told him to come on down and he would be on scholarship. He said Spurrier and the Florida staff were like night and day in their treamtment of the players, compared to O'Leary.