It was a holly, jolly moment when DK Metcalf met his ASL teacher for the first time Sunday.
Darrell Utley was on the sidelines ahead of the Seattle Seahawks’ Christmas Eve game against the Tennessee Titans. The star wide receiver came over during warmups and greeted him with a hug.
Metcalf took his helmet off and the two shared a short conversation in sign language, both grinning widely and signing ‘thank you.’ The Seahawks posted a video to their social media of the heartwarming encounter.
Utley lives in Tennessee and has taught Metcalf, who lives on the other side of the country, through Zoom.
‘It’s always nice to see a 3D version of American Sign Language, as opposed to just 2D on TV,’ Utley told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month of looking forward to meeting his student in person.
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The wideout uses ASL in his touchdown celebrations as a means to trash talk without penalty, but also to raise awareness for the language.
Utley compared the enthusiasm around Metcalf’s use of sign language to the hype that Taylor Swift has brought to football now that she’s dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
‘All of a sudden people who never watched football are now watching because of the Travis-Taylor thing,’ he said. ‘I think it’s nice that there’s another similarity or parallel to ASL and DK (Metcalf). Everyone wants to see what’s going on next. So it’s kind of cool.’
‘I don’t know that he understands or realizes the impact. It’s a huge impact on the signing and ASL communities.’