Tennessee safety Todd Kelly Jr. will wear No. 24 in 2016.
Kelly, who wore No. 6 in 2015, is making the switch to honor 15-year-old Zaevian Dobson, who was killed in December 2015. Dobson was shot in the head while shielding three teenage girls during a shooting spree in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Kelly is a native of Knoxville and Dobson wore No. 24 when he played football for Fulton High School. Kelly went to Webb School.
“That’s something TK and I talked long and hard about,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said via VolQuest.com. “He wanted to represent him and his family and this great community. I think it speaks volume of TK.”
Dobson was honored at the ESPYs in July with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. His mother accepted the award in his honor and said at the ceremony she wanted athletes to take a stand against gun violence.
Kelly started two games in 2015 and had 44 tackles and three interceptions as a sophomore. He was a four-star recruit in the class of 2014 according to Rivals.
