What is the Utah football team doing this season to honor two teammates who died in 2020 - 2021?

The Utah Utes will start their season on Sunday when they travel to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators for a spotlight matchup in Week 1 of the college football campaign.

Special helmets to debut on Oct. 15th vs. USC

The program is still trying to recover from the tragic passing of two former members of the team and best friends who were killed by gun shot wounds nine months apart. Aaron Lowe and Ty Jordan will be honored by the Utes this season when they debut custom painted “22forever” helmets in their October 15th game against USC to honor their former teammates.

The two were best friends, and they shared the number 22 while playing with Utah during their time in Salt Lake City. The helmets will have portraits of Low and Jordan on both sides.

Lowe, a cornerback in his sophomore year, was killed during a house party in Salt Lake City on September 26th of last year. Jordan was named the 2020 Offensive Freshman of the Year after a fantastic first season as the Utes running back. He was killed on Christmas Day of 2020 after an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Number 22 has been retired at Utah

Last year the Utes had a mantra “Be 22% better” which paid homage to Lowe and Jordan. The university also retired the number 22, which was the first number to be retired in program history.

The debut of the helmets will come nearly a year after the Utes beat the USC Trojans to spark a 9-1 end to the Pac-12 season which was good enough for a conference title and a Rose Bowl appearance.

“It brought us together in a way that I don’t know what could have been more powerful,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham. “It unified us and gave us all a cause. Not that you need that to have a good football team, but that really sparked us and really gave everybody a common denominator to play for.”