Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — If pictures could talk.
In Sharrieff Shah's office inside the Utah football facility is two pictures of former Utes safety Aaron Lowe — of him smiling, of course.
To the passerby, especially one without context, it's just two photos of a former athlete that came through the program — a scene not too uncommon in a football facility. But to Shah, those two photos are a reminder of a promise he made to keep Lowe safe while away from his home in Texas.
"When you are able to recruit a kid, go into their home, sit with them, make promises to their parents and tell them that I'm going to take care of your kid; and in the same moment, you're the one calling mom, saying that your baby has passed away," Shah recalled, trying to hold back his emotions.
The photos serve as small reminder to the connection Shah had with Lowe before he was tragically killed in an early-morning shooting in Sept. 2021. They're also there to give Shah some perspective — even as the pain of that morning never goes away.
"He will mean so much to me for the rest of my life. He is with me through so much," Shah said. "Two of his pictures are in my office, and I talk to him like he's there. I'm like Aaron, I'm struggling, baby; I sure would need your smile, and he's just smiling at me. I said, OK, that's a sign that I need to quit crying and get up."
And in a season in which Utah has had, losing six straight games after being picked to win the Big 12 in the preseason poll, Shah has looked at those photos for help a lot. And each time, it's a reminder that life is bigger than football.
On Saturday, the University of Utah will, once again, honor the life of Lowe and his teammate Ty Jordan, who died nine month earlier on Christmas Day, as part of the senior night celebration. Had the two gone through their full playing eligibility, Saturday would have been their senior night, too.
It's an opportunity for Utah football to honor their fallen teammates — beyond the No. 22 jersey being retired and a scholarship given out each season in their memory — with the recruiting class they were a part of when the two committed to Utah.
"I'm grateful and I'm humbled, just because I'm still living and breathing," an emotional Junior Tafuna said, speaking about the school including Lowe and Jordan in the senior festivities. "They're my class — all of us. You know, after this year, no one's gonna know who they are; and so, shoot, just love them. Grateful for them."
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Tuesday the families for both players will be in attendance, like all the other seniors being honored before the game, and they'll have another opportunity to cheer on players that were gone too soon.
"Every time I think about it, it's very difficult, and the most difficult thing I've ever gone through in my career, as far as dealing with players and those relationships; and that was just absolutely tragic, absolutely tragic," Whittingham said.
But out of tragedy turned a unique and special tradition at Utah — the Moment of Loudness — that honors all the Utes fans who have died between the third and fourth quarter.
And though the players who knew Lowe and Jordan personally will soon leave the program, graduating onto life or for a select few a chance to play professionally, it's an opportunity to keep perspective into the sport.
"Some people bring such a level of joy and commitment to you that you never know what they were brought in your life for — you just don't know," Shah said. "But that one, Aaron in particular, I thank God for him.
"I thank God for him, and I appreciate him every time we're able to recognize him and so many other Utes that have passed away in the middle of the third to the fourth quarter. I love that celebration; I do. It's a temporary pause from whatever may be happening in that game that I can just reflect on what matters the most, and it's certainly not a football game."
Utah will welcome No. 22 Iowa State to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday (5:30 p.m. MST, FOX), with senior night festivities taking place before kickoff.
