I just love living in East Tennessee in the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains. Knoxville is a college town with a football issue. If you haven’t been to a game at Neyland Stadium, you must go. You and 105,000 of your best friends and Rocky Top played a couple hundred times. Some years, the football is good. Some years it is not. Some years the players are memorable. Other years they are not.

Three years ago, I wrote about a young man in Florida who was bullied for his homemade Tennessee shirt. The fans stepped up and sent him merch and then had his homemade shirt printed and sold in the Vol shops.

This year, we were blessed with young men who are not only outstanding football players, but they are also outstanding citizens embodying the very meaning of Volunteer Spirit. We beat Alabama for crying out loud. Two of the players involved in the ‘Bama win were Hendon Hooker and Jalin Hyatt. Meanwhile in Elizabethtown, TN an eight year old boy was a big Jalin Hyatt fan. For Christmas, he got a picture of Jalin. From Twitter:

I love it! Somebody find me his parents info. I got a gift for him! Merry Christmas! https://t.co/tqdV5PYLDX

— Jalin Hyatt (@jalinhyatt) December 25, 2022

The beauty and innocence of a child. His heart is overwhelmed. I am going to guess that the photo was one of five touchdowns Hyatt scored against Alabama.

The eight year olds father talked to WBIR in Knoxville:

“His Christmas wish was to meet Jalin. I took him to the Missouri game and we waited outside to see him, but never got to,” Raylan’s father, Justin Clifton said. “We tried to find an autographed picture, but couldn’t find anything around where we live.”

Raylan was at a loss for words at a photo that was not even signed by Jalin Hyatt, but the video soon gained traction on social media. Both Jalin Hyatt and his parents, Enevelyn and Jamie Hyatt, responded to the video.

“We never expected this to go as far as it has,” Justin Clifton said. “We just shared it to show some VFL spirit today.”

VFL stands for “Vol for Life”. This is how you make VFLs. It takes well-raised men to carry the Volunteer name. And, Hyatt’s parents, clearly raised their son right.

This is what heroes are made of 🧡#jalinhyatt https://t.co/Zmsctrvw0c

— Amy (@prioritizin) December 26, 2022

It makes my heart so happy that there are innocent children like this young man and heroes still for them to look up to, like Jalin Hyatt. VFL. GBO. Thank you, Twitter. Merry Christmas. God Bless Us, Everyone.

Featured Image: Kevin Oliver/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons