"We thank God for bringing Tajh into our Liberty Athletics community and we will always remember him as a Flame. Tajh will be missed dearly," Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw and head coach Jamey Chadwell wrote in a statement.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Tajh's family, his teammates and friends, our football coaching staff, as well as our entire athletics department and the greater Liberty University community."

6'4", 300 lb. "Big Baby" was a three-star recruit at Oscar F. Smith High School in Virginia -- a school he helped lead to two state championships. Tajh chose Liberty over the likes of Duke, Maryland, and Virginia Tech.

Boyd joined the team in January ... and was gearing up for the start of Liberty's season the first week of September against Bowling Green.

Away from the football field, Tajh was an Interdisciplinary Studies major at Liberty and hoped to become a computer science engineer.

As you'd expect, his teammates were crushed by the news.

Fellow offensive lineman X'zauvea Gadlin Tweeted ... “It’s gone be a while before this feels real. But imma see you again. Rest easy Lil Brother.”

Boyd is survived by his mother Tanzania, and his father Dawntay.