Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy and UNLV defensive lineman Ryan Keeler were close friends, having come up together through the youth football ranks in Illinois. When Keeler died at age 20 on Feb. 20 from a heart arrhythmia, McCarthy was devastated.
“I just broke down and started crying because [Keeler] was someone that worked so hard as he did,” McCarthy told Connor Eargood of The Michigan Daily. “And he was such a phenomenal human being. There’s not a speck of evil in this kid’s heart, and the rest of his life was taken from him like that.”
On Saturday, when the Wolverines played the Rebels in Ann Arbor, McCarthy honored Keeler by drawing a No. 47 on his hand to represent Keeler’s uniform number with UNLV. And then something amazing happened.
Almost immediately after CBS shared the story on its television broadcast, McCarthy threw a touchdown pass to Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson … for 47 yards.
Play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler noticed the confluence of events, and incorporated it into his call.
“Just like that, with 47 on one hand, he rifles it to his favorite target with the other. A 47-yard touchdown,” Nessler said.
