The tragic news broke late Friday morning, with word surfacing that Eastern Michigan wide receiver Demarius Reed had died of a gunshot wound in an apparent homicide.
While there was some initial uncertainty as to whether the Eagles’ game against Ohio today would go off as scheduled, EMU ultimately decided to play through their collective grief and honor their teammate. And honor him they did.
Tyler Allen took the opening kickoff and returned it 90 yards for what was an extremely emotional touchdown for the football program. While we don’t have access to the full clip, EMU athletics posted this short video of the return HERE.
Buttons with Reed’s No. 2 emblazoned on them are peppered throughout the crowd, including EMU’s band, while an assistant coach had Reed’s number shaved into the side of his head, which this photo from Brandon Folsom of mlive.com shows:
