‘He’ll inspire me for the rest of my life’: Teams remember fallen WVSU football player

INSTITUTE, WV (WOWK) – The current and former teammates of West Virginia State University Linebacker Jyilek Harrington honored his memory as they played against each other Friday after the game was postponed from Thursday due to Harrington’s death.

Harrington was killed during a shooting on Wednesday night in Charleston. As of Friday evening, there are no suspects or information on any suspects.

WVSU and Carson Newman University came together to honor his memory at Friday’s game, with both teams wearing decal stickers of the numbers Harrington wore while he played for each team. They also left out his former jersey.

Similarly, the 22 and 31 yard lines were black and orange respectively, as 22 was Harrington’s number with WVSU and 31 was Harrington’s number with Carson-Newman.

There was also a moment of silence before the start of the game.

Thursday night, both of the teams met together in private to grieve and pray for Harrington.

“He’ll inspire me for the rest of my life,” said WVSU head coach John Pennington. “You know, I hope to live my life the way that he did. The positive impact he had. And he’ll inspire us, obviously, for the rest of the season. But for the rest of my life, you know, as an individual and for the rest of my time here, he’ll be an inspiration to us.”

The final score was 56 to 25 with Carson Newman defeating WVSU.

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