The University of Oregon Ducks have all but dedicated this year’s season to Todd Doxey, a red-shirt freshman, high-achieving student and promising player, who died in a drowning accident this summer at the age of 19.
In July, Todd Doxey and around 30 of his teammates went to the McKenzie River for a relaxing float trip where they tie inner tubes together and let the current carry them along the river. To spice things up a little, a few of the players decided to enter the water this year by jumping off a 40-foot bridge. After jumping in with eight of his teammates, Todd Doxey struggled to stay above water and eventually drowned. The team was crushed.
Doxey came from a rough-and-tumble neighborhood of San Diego to become the first person in his family to attend college. In his first year as a student in Oregon, he maintained a 3.5 GPA. 3,000 people attended the memorial service held for him earlier this summer and a different Ducks player will wear his number 29 for each game this season to honor his memory.
The fans and players at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium remembered Doxey in a moment of silence before Saturday’s opener against Washington, the first game Doxey would have been eligible for and one he had been anticipating for over a year. The Ducks went on to route Washington 44-10.
Sources: rivals.com, Bleacher Report