Rutgers will have three special honorary captains against Iowa

Published Sep. 23, 2016 12:45 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

Too often in sports we focus on the negative. The player or coach in trouble with the law. The NCAA violation your school committed. Not often enough do we realize that sports brings out a lot of good in people, which is the case at Rutgers University this weekend.

The Scarlet Knights will have three terminally ill children serve as captains for their game Saturday, including the son of former coach Trevor Powers (who now works at Princeton). The boys have a disease known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, where life expectancy usually doesn't go beyond their mid-20's.

But on Saturday, they will have a special moment at midfield, as Rutgers hosts Iowa.

The move is part of Rutgers' relationship with Coach to Cure MD, a non-profit group that partners with college coaches and tries to find a cure for muscular dystrophy. The relationship between Rutgers and the group began with former head coach Greg Schiano and continued through Kyle Flood and now current coach Chris Ash.

Powers' 22-month-old son Tent lives a completely normal life at this stage of the diagnosis, according to his parents, with his mom, Kim, calling him "the happiest 22-month-old you'd ever meet."

Rutgers is proving that there is still a lot of good left in sports.