(UPDATED) – An Iowa State football player will wear a different number on his jersey this season in a show of support for a former player who’s undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. State Senator Jack Whitver, a former starting wide receiver for the Cyclones, announced his diagnosis this spring. I-S-U football coach Matt Campbell invited Whitver and his family to join the team on the field this weekend.

Campbell says the player who’ll wear number 26 this season had the same journey Whitver did at I-S-U.

ISU linebacker Caleb Bacon and the Whitver family. (ISU Athletics photo)

Bacon, who’s from Lake Miller, is a linebacker who played in all 13 I-S-U games last season and made 60 tackles, the second most on the team. Whitver was on the Cyclone football team from 1999 to 2003 and finished his college career with five touchdowns and 96 career receptions.