Dawson and Luke Knox had your typical brotherly childhood relationship for two kids three years apart.

"We grew up competing in everything you could possibly imagine," Knox said. "It was the classic little brother. We were getting into fights every day. Basketball in the driveway. Madden on the Xbox. I mean you name it, we were competing in it."

As the two got older, the bond shifted to more strongly supporting each other.

Still, they did enjoy turning back the clock from time to time.

"One of my favorite memories was at Ole Miss when I was a senior and he was a freshman," Knox remembered with a smile. "Being able to go up against him a little bit on scout team was pretty cool."

But the best display of Luke's support of Dawson came during big bros biggest moment.

"The night that I got drafted he was so excited he jumped up, gave me a huge hug so hard that he kind of hit me in the mouth and my mouth was all bloody," Knox said. "So he was always one of my top supporters. Was always one of the most excited people for me anytime I had any type of success."

And those feelings flowed both ways.

"Just being able to hype each other up before games, even if it was just a text," Knox said. "Even if I wasn't there in person, we'd call each other or text each other before any type of big event. So it was always fun being right there for him."

Sadly, those moments are no more after Luke suddenly passed away in mid-August.

It absolutely was heart-breaking for Dawson and his entire family, but they've found the light through the toughest of darkness.

"People will be like 'Sorry for your loss,' but we feel like we didn't really lose him because we know exactly where he is," Knox said. "He's up in heaven. He's in a much better place. The bible doesn't even touch on people in heaven being able to see what's going on on earth, so I think football down here is the last of his worries. He's having the time of his life up there. He's enjoying some really awesome stuff that we can't even comprehend yet. Just being able to know that he's one of my biggest supporters and he was always there for me through everything is pretty awesome because I know that if there is a chance for him to be watching what I'm doing, he's going to be there with a front row seat. It's just awesome knowing in the back of my mind that he was always right there for me."

Dawson was away from the team for a bit right after Luke's death, but feels his return to the game has been a necessary part of processing it all.

"For a while football was a great distraction for me," Knox explained. "Just getting back into the building. Being around the people that I love. Teammates I love. These awesome coaches and this community was a pretty great distraction from what was going on. But now as I've kind of come to terms with that side of the grief and everything, it's been awesome to pour everything I have into football. As my family can come up and watch games. As they can be there to support me too. I think it's a pretty awesome outlet to where I'm just not always sitting at home thinking about some of those hard things. Football's been a great distraction/outlet for me."

Every time Dawson has scored a touchdown in his career he's pointed up to the sky in celebration.

It's a gesture that now carries multiple meanings.

"It's just giving glory back to where it's deserved, up to god. But I think this year it does have a little extra meaning just because I know he's up there somewhere running around. He's probably fishing somewhere. But yeah, there's definitely a little extra meaning now."

​And now Luke Knox will be touching many lives beyond his own family. Through well over $200,000 in donations in Luke's name given to the P.U.N.T. Foundation, initiatives like "Luke's Locker" are launching to help pediatric cancer patients here in Western New York as well as Knox's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.

"There's a lot of exciting stuff in the works and Luke's legacy will live on forever."