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Why Terrion Arnold feels first career interception was message from Khyree Jackson

Originally posted on Touchdown Alabama Magazine
By Justin Smith | Last updated Nov 5, 2025 1:48 PM ET

Terrion Arnold has made it clear he is going to let his late former teammate, Khyree Jackson, live through him throughout his NFL career after the budding NFL player’s life was cut short due to a tragic car accident.

Jackson and Arnold played together at Alabama and built a bond with one another during that time. After Jackson passed, Arnold changed his jersey number from No. 0 to No. 6 to honor Jackson.

The Detroit Lions’ cornerback shared Jackson was weighing on his spirits before the Lions’ game against the Minnesota Vikings, Jackson’s former team.

“I told my pops man pop if I catch a pick, it’s gonna mean so much for me, because my grandma said, ‘when you catch your first pick, you got to give me the game ball You got to give me the pick,'” Arnold said during a recent episode of “The Closed on Sundays” podcast. “And I’m like, ‘yeah, Grandma, I got you.’ But I was wrestling with God about it. But if God allowed me to catch a pick, man, I’m gonna send a game ball to Khyree little brother, man… I’m gonna send it to him, man. And my granddad said it just like this. He said, ‘you know what? Since you took yourself out of it, you’re gonna catch a pick today.’ I was like, I just started feeling it.”

Arnold’s grandad was right. It happened in the final seconds of the second quarter when JJ McCarthy went after Arnold while targeting Jason Nailor. The pass was a bit behind Nailor, and Arnold ripped it away for his first career interception.

Terrion Arnold snatches it away for his first career pick!

MINvsDET on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/yqlwNqgV2G

— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2025

Arnold feels like the interception was a message from Jackson.

“I’m like, man, you know, sometimes God just allows you to go out there and it’s bigger than you,” Arnold said. “Then we went back to the sidelines. I had looked down at my wrist because I had long live Khyree on my wrist. Dang, bro, you gave me one to be able to catch a pick versus (your) former team. And not only that be my first one, but like that meant a lot to me because I told my pops, when I called his mom, I said, ‘hey, you, the family… I want to give y’all the ball. My first pick. It’s one of those things where, like when people pass, like, I look at it as far as, like, life go on. But when life go on, you know, that family still got to deal with that. She literally said, ‘you know what’s crazy? It’s crazy you called Terrion because I spoke your name up.’ I said, man, ‘God spoke me up then’. And she said, ‘whenever I’m having a rough day or whenever it gets hard. Khyree always knows how to send me a blessing.’ And just for me to be able to just make her day like that and be able to do that for the family, that meant a lot for me.”

This article first appeared on Touchdown Alabama Magazine and was syndicated with permission.

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