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Lions’ Terrion Arnold changing jersey number to honor late Alabama teammate Khyree Jackson

Brian Jones Profile Picby:Brian Jones•about 17 hours•

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Terrion Arnold Khyree Jackson
Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images// Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold is changing his jersey number to six to honor former Alabama teammate Khyree Jackson. While appearing on New Wave Pod, Arnold explained why he’s honoring Jackson, who died in July.

“I wore six in high school, too,” Arnold said. “We all know what happened to our friend Khyree, and I just feel like being able to honor his legacy and the impact that he even had on me. The guy was a competitor, ultimate competitor. It’s that extra motivation.”

“When you look down, and you say, ‘Dang man. I got on that six.’ My brother living through me at the same time. Just how they have those same things where they say football is bigger than you. Just looking at it like talking to his little brother, he could go look on the screen and look in the camera and say, ‘He’s wearing No. 6 because of my big brother.’ That’s amazing. Then just being able to talk to his family, talk to his dad or his mom and just letting them know at the end of the day, Terrion ain’t forgot about Khyree.”

Terrion Arnold and Khyree Jackson played at Alabama together in 2021 and 2022. Jackson transferred to Oregon for the 2023 season, was named to the All-Pac-12 team. The Minnesota Vikings selected Jackson in the fourth round of last year’s draft. Jackson died on July 6 in a traffic collision in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

During the 2024 NFL season, Vikings players wore helmet decals with Jackson’s initials. “Khyree was not a part of our team long, but the way our culture is … it does not take long for guys to build strong bonds and relationships,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said shortly after Jackson’s death, per the Associated Press. “Just through my dialogue throughout the summer with some of our veteran leadership and how they were communicating their feelings and things, it was pretty remarkable to hear the kind of impact that he had in such a short amount of time.”

Arnold is entering his second NFL season. He wore No. 0 for the Lions last year and finished his rookie season with 60 tackles and 10 passes defended in 16 games.