Los Angeles Rams Punter Johnny Hekker Honors Michigan State’s Mike Sadler

Over one week ago, the college football world was devastated to hear the heartbreaking news surrounding Michigan State punter Mike Sadler and Nebraska punter Sam Foltz died in a single-vehicle crash in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the news hit the Los Angeles Rams family as well when considering how close punter Johnny Hekker was with Sadler.

In honor of the Spartans punter, Hekker decided to honor Sadler during training camp by wearing the No. 3 jersey–which is just simply awesome to hear.

Punter @JHekker wearing No. 3 during training camp in memory of Mike Sadler and Sam Foltz pic.twitter.com/3ImxAbJaoW
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 1, 2016

The Rams uploaded a photo to their Twitter page on Monday with Hekker wearing the jersey in Sadler’s honor, but it was the message from the punter that makes this story even more touching. In response to the post, Hekker acknowledged how blessed he was to know Sadler, praising him for inspiring each individual he came across.

Mike inspired everyone he met. I am blessed to get to honor a man that touched so many lives. https://t.co/IzhYfj2hE7
— Johnny Hekker (@JHekker) August 1, 2016

When hearing all of the stories from Michigan State players and coaches from the last week, this response by Hekker shouldn’t come as a surprise at all.

According to Jack Wang of the Los Angeles Daily News, Hekker had trained with Sadler for about five years–so one can only imagine how tough this whole situation has been over the last week. Despite everything that happened, it’s amazing to see Hekker pay tribute to his beloved friend in Sadler by honoring his jersey number in practice and nobody would expect anything less from the punter when considering the type of person he is.

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