Through grief, Eagles’ Davis and Dean support each other
PHILADELPHIA — A few days after the Eagles clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed in the regular-season finale, rookie defensive tackle Jordan Davis was interrupted from his sleep during the early morning hours. He received a bevy of notifications, including text messages from former Georgia teammate and fellow Eagles rookie Nakobe Dean.
“Did you see the news?” Dean urgently typed, “Did you hear about Chandler and Devin?”
Unaware of what Dean was referencing, Davis quickly processed through several other messages and was brought to tears after he discovered former college teammate Devin Willock and staff member Chandler LeCroy had died in a car crash that occurred near Georgia’s campus.
According to the crash report from the AthensClarke County Police Department, LeCroy was driving an SUV carrying three other members of the Georgia football program. After she “failed to negotiate a left curve, the vehicle struck a curb with its front passenger tire and left the roadway, going on to strike a power pole and another utility pole.” Per the report, Willock was seated behind LeCroy on the driver’s side, and was ejected from the vehicle. Willock, 20, died at the scene of the accident and LeCroy, 24, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The other two passengers, Victoria Bowles, 26, and Warren McClendon, 21, survived while sustaining non-life threatening injuries.
The deaths of LeCroy and Willock hit especially hard for Dean, who had recently seen them at the College Football Playoff national championship game — a couple of days earlier at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. After Georgia defeated TCU to claim a second consecutive CFP championship, Dean was part of the onfield celebration with his alma mater.
While the confetti fell and music blared, LeCroy sought out Dean, and the
duo took a selfie photograph together. Dean never imagined that would be the final time he’d enjoy a moment with Willock, an offensive lineman, and LeCroy, a Georgia recruiting staffer, whom Dean described as a “beautiful and warm soul.”
“I’ll always remember her being happy,” Dean said. “Always taking pictures and always being generous. I’m going to cherish my moments with them forever. With Devin, I’d see him everyday. You see each other everyday, you get closer. All the jokes that we shared, the time that we had in the locker room — that was our time to decompress and relax. To see him let his guard down and go from a wide-eyed freshman to a mature man ... It’s crazy how moments like that go by.”
Said Davis: “This grieving process is so hard. Not only did I lose friends, but I lost a brother and a sister. It’s hard. At the end of the day, I tell myself to remember the great times that we had. Remember the memories of them smiling. It really (messes) with you, it affects you. You want to remember the good things.”
In the days and moments that followed, Dean and Davis leaned heavily on each other for support, much like they have done for a majority of their rookie seasons.
“It’d be a lot harder without KoDean,” Davis said. “I’m grateful he’s here. I’m grateful we get to go through this journey together ... any situation that he needs me or I need him, we just call each other.”