Peyton Manning creates scholarship to honor late Broncos star

Peyton Manning has created a scholarship at Georgia Tech to honor his friend, former teammate and Yellowjacket Demaryius Thomas.

Thomas, a Denver Bronco for nine seasons, died last year at age 33.

The Demaryius A. Thomas Scholarship Endowment was created through the Hall of Fame quarterback’s PeyBack Foundation. The goal is to award academic scholarships to incoming first-year students from Laurens County, Ga., where Thomas is from. These scholarships will range from full ride to partial and may be combined with other forms of aid and split to cover costs for multiple need-based students, according to ramblinwreck.com.

Scholarships will run until students graduate from Georgia Tech.

“Demaryius Thomas was an incredibly talented and unselfish teammate, but more importantly, he was a special person and friend,” Manning said in a news release. “My family and I miss him dearly, and we wanted to honor D.T.’s memory by partnering the PeyBack Foundation with Georgia Tech to establish the Demaryius A. Thomas Scholarship Endowment.

Georgia Tech athletics announced that the school will recognize Aug. 8 (8/8) of each year as Demaryius Thomas Day, beginning in 2022. Thomas wore No. 8 in college and then No. 88 in Denver. Before going in the first round of the NFL Draft, Thomas caught 113 balls for 2,135 yards and 13 touchdowns over his three collegiate seasons.

“An important part of Demaryius’ legacy was the way he inspired the next generation to pursue their dreams with the same perseverance and determination that defined him. Through this scholarship to Georgia Tech, Demaryius will have a lasting impact on deserving youth from his hometown area who can follow in his footsteps and accomplish great things in life,” Manning said.

‘DT’ caught the fourth-most touchdowns among Manning receivers, nabbing 36 of his 60 NFL touchdowns from the Hall of Famer.

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