Kentucky senior outside linebacker JJ Weaver has been named one of 111 nominees for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, as announced Thursday by the Wuerffel Foundation.
The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy, College Football’s Premier Award for Community Service, is named after Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from the University of Florida, who turned his success on the football field into a lifetime of service. The trophy embodies Wuerffel’s commitment to humanitarian efforts, honoring student-athletes inspired to serve others and make positive societal impacts. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the trophy’s founding, and the Foundation will recognize the first nineteen recipients throughout the fall season.
Kentucky’s Courtney Love won the coveted trophy in 2017.
Weaver, a Louisville, Kentucky native, is set to once again be a veteran leader for the Wildcats’ defense this season. Last year, the two-year team captain totaled 45 tackles, ranking second on the team in tackles for loss (TFLs) with 8.5 and second in sacks with 7.0. Equally impressive is the work he’s doing off the field and in the community.
Weaver, who was born with polydactyly (a condition where a person has more than five fingers or toes on one or both hands or feet), faced significant obstacles throughout his life. With six fingers on his right hand, he was bullied in grade school for being different. However, this challenge was minimal compared to what he faced during his collegiate years. From July 2020 to August 2021, Weaver endured the homicide of his father, a season-ending knee injury, and the loss of his beloved high school football coach to cancer.
Grief and anger began to affect his life noticeably. After a confrontation by then-head athletic trainer Gabe Amponsah and a heart-to-heart talk with head coach Mark Stoops, who had also lost his father in college, Weaver agreed to seek counseling. This decision proved transformative. Inspired by the help he received, Weaver became an outspoken advocate for mental health and counseling. In the fall of 2023, with support 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 involvement, “The Perfect Fit Support Group” received a $40,000 grant from Women in Philanthropy and will be available to all students on UK’s campus starting in the fall of 2024.
This spring, Weaver attended the “Supporting Children and Teens Through Loss” event at the Kentucky Center for Grieving Children and Families, where he shared his experiences 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, where he shared his story and discussed his work on UK’s campus.
In addition to his advocacy, Weaver has hosted free football camps and organized two bike drives, providing more than 200 bicycles to children in Lexington and his hometown of Louisville.
Due to his resilience and community work, Weaver recently earned the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2024 Ron Butler Character in Adversity Award.
Weaver graduated in December 2023 with a degree in community leadership and development. He is currently pursuing a second degree in family science with a minor in communication.
Recently, the Wuerffel Foundation partnered with Allstate to unify college football’s highest community service honors. Eleven of the Watch List nominees will be named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and will be Allstate Wuerffel Trophy semifinalists.
The 2024 Allstate Wuerffel Trophy finalists and recipient will be selected by a prestigious national voting committee, including a fan vote component, and announced on ESPN’s Home Depot College Football Awards Show on December 12th. The Allstate Wuerffel Trophy Presentation Gala will take place on February 1, 2025, at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Weaver is also on the watch list for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team.