Lake Wales senior center Luke Hiers always has his mom, Jenn in the stands. That is until this fall. She wasn't at his final homecoming game.

"That was hard to say the least," said Jenn Hiers. "I've never missed one down of him playing no matter what. A couple weeks ago I had to miss a game."

"She was the only one not there," said senior Luke. "You could see where she sat every game there was a gap. But, ya know I still played like she was there."

The four-star recruit mustered all the strength he could as his mom lay in a hospital bed. She got pneumonia on top of sepsis, a potentially life-threatening infection.

What was the scariest thought you had when your mom was in the hospital?

"Her not being able to be normal," said Hiers. "Her little body she can only take so much, seeing her like that curled up in the bed. Her always being on an IV all the time. Her having to go to the hospital for shots. That's got to take a toll on somebody."

Even in her condition Jenn managed to watch the game the next day through the team’s game film.

"He's not the type of kid that isolates himself," said Lake Wales football coach TaVaris Johnson. "But this particular Friday he did. Finally he stepped up to me and said 'coach my mom is in the hospital' and he choked up. So he said 'Coach just send my mother the film.'"

"He even addressed it before," said Hiers. "Saying my mom wanted to see it, so let's play a good game so my mom could see it on film. I ended up showing her the next morning. She was trying to critique it and everything. She doesn't know too much about football, but she tries. I tried to teach her. She got really excited lying in that hospital bed watching the game on my phone."

That same game film, watched by Luke's mom, garnered him college attention since he was a freshman.

"I like to finish and put people in the ground," said Hiers.

"He came in being able to diagnose defenses," said Johnson. "He came in with the ability to lead."

In May, Hiers committed to Kentucky; a school 16 hours away.

"First seeing a college coach at school I was like 'Oh they're here to talk to me?'," said Hiers.

He may have doubted all the big time attention, but there is no question who his two biggest fans are. His younger siblings Lyle and Olivia. Both have autism.

"This is his sister Olivia," said Luke's mom. "Olivia is going to be 13 in January and has special needs. Not only is she his biggest fan but I always say this is Luke is her safety.”

"Olivia wants to come to every game," said Luke. "We got pretty close. I do everything with them. I take Olivia and Lyle hunting and fishing with me. My whole family cares. My little brother and sister both care. They love watching me play."

They idolize Luke. Lyle wears his same number 54 jersey, in the same position of center on his middle school team.

"I guess he is trying to be like me,"said Hiers. "It makes me proud of him to see how he can do."

"Immediately he said 'you know what, I want to do what Luke does'," said Jenn Hiers.

Lyle agreed that he better be good if he's going to wear number 54 like his brother.

How much of a role do you have helping your parents out with two children who have special needs?

"Going to do stuff with them when my mom's not feeling good," said Hiers. "I find it normal. That's how I was raised. That's how I will always be. I have a special place in my heart for kids like that."

His siblings. His mom. His family. Luke decommitted from Kentucky in late September. He traded in an 850 mile track for a 60 minute ride. He changed his college selection to UCF.

"Knowing my mom and her health conditions she cannot come up to Kentucky all the time," said Hiers. "But, being an hour away she can come up to those games."

"You could see the relief, literally come across his body is by the day that he committed to UCF," said Jenn Hiers. "I know in my heart he's where he's supposed to be."

"You know if need be I could come home," said Luke. "I'm not going to be able to come home, but if something does go wrong I'm not however far away Kentucky is. I'm just an hour away, so that's reassuring to me."