Kentucky’s J.J. Weaver Named to Allstate AFCA Good Works Team
Kentucky senior outside linebacker J.J. Weaver has been selected as one of only 11 members from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, it was announced today. New this year, Weaver now also becomes an eligible semifinalist for the 2024 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy.
This year’s Allstate AFCA Good Works Team was selected from a record 178 nominees, representing players and coaches from colleges and universities across the country for their unwavering commitment to community service and their “good works” off the field.
Weaver is the 18th player from Kentucky to be named to the prestigious Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. The SEC leads all conferences with 89 selections since it began in 1992. Georgia is in first place with 24 honorees, followed by Kentucky.
1992 Doug Pelfrey Kicker
1994 Leon Smith Split End
1996 Kurt Supe Defensive End
1998 Jimmy Carter Punter
1999 Seth Hanson Kicker
2000 Matt Layow Defensive End
2002 Antonio Hall Offensive Tackle
2004 Antoine Huffman Cornerback
2006 Jacob Tamme Tight End
2008 Tim Masthay Punter
2011 Jake Lewellen Defensive End
2014 Max Godby Offensive Guard
2015 Landon Foster Punter
2017 Courtney Love Linebacker
2019 Landon Young (Captain) Offensive Tackle
2020 Luke Fortner Offensive Guard
2021 Kenneth Horsey Offensive Guard
2022 Mark Stoops Honorary Head Coach
2024 J.J. Weaver Outside Linebacker
Weaver, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, is a three-year team captain, joining Joshua Paschal and DeAndre Square as the only three-time team captains in school history. He graduated in December of 2023 with a degree in community leadership and development. He is currently working on a second degree in family science with a minor in communication.
On the field this season, he has totaled nine tackles in three games and leads the team in sacks with 2.0. He also has two tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble. He currently ranks in the top 10 on UK’s career lists for sacks (tied for fifth – 18.5) and tackles for loss (seventh – 34.0).
Equally impressive is the work he’s doing off the field and in the community.
Weaver, who 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, has had to face many obstacles in his lifetime. With six fingers on his right hand, he was bullied and ridiculed in grade school for being different. But that obstacle was nothing compared to what he was about to face during his collegiate years.
From July 2020 to August 2021, Weaver lost his father to homicide, sustained a season-ending knee injury and then lost his beloved high school football coach to cancer.
Grief and anger started taking over his life and it became noticeable to those who knew him best. After being confronted by then-head athletic trainer Gabe Amponsah and a timely heart-to-heart talk with head coach Mark Stoops, who could relate after losing his father to a heart attack in college, Weaver agreed that counseling would help. And boy, did it ever. Inspired by the help he received, Weaver has become an outspoken advocate for mental health and counseling. In the fall of 2023, with help from the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, he launched an 8-week peer-led grief counseling group on UK’s campus, the first of its kind at UK called “The Perfect Fit Support Group.”
With Weaver’s help, “The Perfect Fit Support Group” received a $40,000 grant by Women in Philanthropy and now will be available to all students on UK’s campus later this month.
This spring, Weaver attended the “Supporting Children and Teens Through Loss” event at the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, where he spoke to the group about going through grief and participated in a drum circle with the children. In June, he attended the 2024 Annual Symposium on Children’s Grief in Denver, Colorado hosted by the National Alliance for Children’s Grief. He shared his story and the work he’s doing on UK’s campus.
He’s also done many other community service events, including hosting free football camps and two bike drives.
All members are selected by a voting panel of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team members, current and former head coaches and journalists who look for exceptional leadership on and off the football field.
The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy recipient and Allstate AFCA Good Works Team captain
The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, college football’s premier award for community service, is presented to one of the 11 FBS players elected to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team who best combines exemplary community service with leadership and performance on and off the field. Named after Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Danny Wuerffel, the award honors the former NFL quarterback’s commitment to inspiring greater service and unity in the world.
The 2024 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy finalists and recipient will be selected by a national voting committee, including a fan vote component. The 2024 recipient, who will also be recognized as the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team captain, will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards show on December 12, airing on ESPN.
Fans can cast their vote by November 15 at ESPN.com/Allstate.
Kentucky’s Courtney Love won the coveted Wuerffel Trophy in 2017.
The full roster of the 2024 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and their stories of community
service can be found at ESPN.com/Allstate.
