J.J. Weaver Nominated For Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award

DALLAS (FWAA) — Kentucky’s J.J. Weaver is this week’s nominee for the 2024 Capital One Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award. Weaver, a sixth-year senior, has become a leader in the mental health space, particularly with grieving children, after dealing with several devastating setbacks in both his football and personal life.

“I was like, man, I want to start something different,” Weaver said during a 2023 CBS video feature. “At first, I wanted to just start in the football facility to see: We’re men, but we still have feelings at the end of the day. We’re still grieving. We’re still going through things, and it’s OK to talk to somebody about what you’re going through.”

Weaver was born with polydactyly, a condition in which a person has more than five fingers or toes on one, or on each, hand or foot. He has six fingers on his right hand, which led to bullying when he was in grade school.

In June of 2020, Weaver’s father, Terrance, was murdered. One year later, Weaver’s high school coach, Rob Reader, died after a battle with cancer. In a November 2020 game against Florida, Weaver suffered a torn ACL in his right knee, which ended a standout redshirt freshman campaign in which he still earned All-SEC freshman team honors, as voted by the league’s coaches.

Kentucky’s then-head athletic trainer Gabe Amponsah and head coach Mark Stoops could sense the grief and anger that Weaver carried, and they encouraged Weaver to seek counseling. Inspired by all of his support, Weaver has since become an advocate for mental health and counseling.

Weaver, with the help from the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, launched “The Perfect Fit Support Group” in the fall of 2023, an eight-week peer-led grief counseling group. Women in Philanthropy donated a $40,000 grant to the group, which is now available to all Kentucky students.

Weaver also spoke at “Supporting Children and Teens Through Loss” at the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families this past spring. He then shared his story in June 2024 at the Annual Symposium on Children’s Grief hosted by the National Alliance for Children’s Grief.

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Weaver is a two-time captain for the Wildcats. The Louisville, Ky., native has tallied 189 career tackles, 37.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, 10 passes defended and two interceptions during his time with the Wildcats. His 37.5 career tackles for loss rank third in school history and his 21.5 career sacks rank fourth.

The outside linebacker leads Kentucky this season in sacks (5) and quarterback hurries (4), and he is tied for the lead in forced fumbles (1) and fumble recoveries (1).

Weaver is a previous nominee for the Courage Award, back in 2021. He is also a two-time semifinalist for the Jason Witten Man of the Year Award (2023 and ’24), a member of the 2023 SEC Community Service Team, and the winner of the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2024 Ron Butler Character in Adversity Award. He also is a member of the 2024 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and is a semifinalist for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy for his work in the community.