UCLA football offers condolences after death of Utah player Aaron Lowe

This post was updated Sept. 30 at 12:02 a.m.

The Bruins may be off to their best start in the Chip Kelly era, but the fourth-year coach started Monday’s practice with his thoughts on a recent tragedy in college football.

“I’d first like to say our thoughts and prayers are out with the University of Utah and Aaron Lowe’s family,” Kelly said prior to the start of No. 20 UCLA football’s (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) first practice after returning home from the Bay Area.

Kelly was referencing Utah sophomore cornerback Aaron Lowe, who was killed in a shooting at a house party in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to an ESPN report released Sunday.

“(It) puts things into perspective for everybody,” Kelly said.

Lowe’s death comes less than a year after his former teammate, running back Ty Jordan, was killed in an accidental shooting, according to the AP. Lowe was the first recipient of the Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship, an award bestowed to him by a vote of his teammates in August. This season, Lowe switched jersey numbers to No. 22 in honor of Jordan, who was his high school teammate at West Mesquite High School in Mesquite, Texas.

Kelly said he had a team meeting planned with his team after Monday to discuss Lowe’s death.

Redshirt junior defensive back Kenny Churchwell III said hearing the news firsthand made conversations about Lowe more emotional because of his ties to the Utah football team.

“Tomorrow, something might happen – today,something might happen,” Churchwell said. “It’s just loving one another, trusting one another to do good things and just being there for that person when something happens or being together.”

On Wednesday, Utah football tweeted a picture of a poster board it received from UCLA, which included a message of sympathy from the Bruins, “To the Utah Football and Lowe families, with prayers and deepest condolences.”

The board included a black and white image of Lowe waving a Utah flag in the bottom third, and the Bruins signed around the message at the top.

The condolences from Churchwell and Kelly haven’t been the onlytime UCLA football has taken time out of its media sessions to shed light on personal issues.

Last week, senior center Sam Marrazzo began his press conference with a story about redshirt junior offensive lineman Jon Gaines II’s father, who had kidney cancer for nearly two years. Two weeks prior, following UCLA’s win over LSU, Kelly sent positive wishes to those affected by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.

Earlier in fall camp, offensive coordinator Justin Frye ended his media session with a message of sympathy to UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close, who had lost her father earlier in the week.

Despite the early-season success, it seems Wasserman Football Center has been a place where people are unafraid to speak on issues bigger than football.