How Todd Kelly Jr.'s Camp 24 helps keep Zaevion Dobson's memory alive

Camp 24 is how Todd Kelly Jr. stays connected to football and Zaevion Dobson.

Dobson was 15 when the Fulton football player was fatally shot shielding three friends from gunfire in December 2015. Kelly swapped his own jersey from No. 6 to No. 24 before the 2016 football season at Tennessee to honor Dobson's heroics.

"Even though I can't run around like I used to, I just want to give back, specifically in the East Knoxville community, to honor and memorialize Zaevion Dobson," Kelly said July 11 at the Emerald Youth Haslam-Sansom Ministry Complex.

Kelly led all SEC freshmen with three interceptions in 2014, then led the Vols with 71 tackles as a junior in 2016. A knee injury limited him to two games in 2017, and he retired from football after a reduced 2018 season.

After earning earning a biological sciences degree at Tennessee, Kelly planned to head for medical school. Instead, he began working in finance and became a partner at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

"You look people in the eye,” Kelly said of what led someone to hire him in the business. “You're trustworthy, you listen, you're honest, all the things it would take to be a successful financial advisor. They gave me an opportunity."

That's the same standard he's built Camp 24 around. Kelly's TKJ Foundation has hosted the event for five years.

"Character. That's the number one goal," Kelly said. "Whether it's being a good teammate, being disciplined, learning how to listen, looking people in the eyes. All things that are applicable, not only on the field, but off the field."

Camp 24 isn't headlined by a marquee NFL name to draw a crowd. Keeping it going, Kelly said, has meant leaning harder on the community.

"It has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with the support system, the foundation, how we've grown," Kelly said. "From coming out of our pockets, to now where we are having different corporate sponsors."

Kelly's mother grew up in East Knoxville and attended Fulton, so for him, the mission was a calling and not a choice.

Tennessee football comes out to honor Zaevion Dobson

Zenobia Dobson, Zaevion’s mother, plays a role in the camp every year, sharing her son's story and love for the game with his Fulton football helmet at her side.

"He got up from sun up to sundown, rain, sleet or snow," Zenobia Dobson said. "He wrote his own plays and kept his own playbook. A lot of people don't realize you have to study football. It's not just showing up and playing. He was big on learning the game. He always listened to his coaches."

A playground built in Dobson's memory sits a few hundred feet from where camp took place, in the same neighborhood where he grew up playing the game.

Four Tennessee football players, linebackers Edwin Spillman and Jordan Burns, safety Sidney Walton and junior running back DeSean Bishop, spent the day running drills and posing for pictures.

Bishop, a star player for Karns before walking on at Tennessee and becoming All-SEC second team in 2025, said the camp is definitely about more than football.

"It's the kids," Bishop said. "I didn't know him personally, but getting to know his mom, getting to know TK, and hearing about his story. He gave his life for another individual. No bigger way to lay your life down than for another one."

Bishop is hosting his own youth camp July 18 at Karns, one he said Camp 24 is helping shape.

"TK is a big man of faith," Bishop said. "I obviously want to bring that, because a lot of these kids need to hear it at a young age."

Walton called Kelly one of his mentors and said the camp's significance is what drew him out to support it.

"They were sending a message for a loved one,” Walton said. “And a message to the youth about working hard and earning what you get. I feel like character is a big thing, not only in football, but in life in general."

Kelly makes sure the day circles back on the same idea each year.

"Legacy means everything at the end of the day, and 24 lives on." Kelly said. "I might not be on the football field anymore, but what better way to do it than out here with young boys and girls, just seeing them laugh, smile and have fun."

Xavier Burton is a sports intern for Knox News. Email: Xavier.burton@knoxnews.com

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Todd Kelly Jr.'s Camp 24 helps keep Zaevion Dobson's memory alive