When you wear No. 12 as a Sooner, it’s about more than football. When you wear No. 12, you’re tasked with helping a team honor a fallen brother.

When the news broke of senior linebacker Austin Box’s death in May, current OU players didn’t know how to react to losing one of their own.

In time, the Sooners decided to not just talk about remembering their fallen brother; they wanted to pay the greatest homage a team could pay to its former teammate.

The defense decided to wear Box’s No. 12 for every game, rotating the honor of representing Box’s memory.

From the moment sophomore linebacker Tom Wort led the team onto the field during OU’s season opener against Tulsa, the impact of the No. 12 jersey made its mark on this Sooner team.

Wort was the first Sooner to wear the honorary jersey, sprinting out onto the field as the team’s leader coming out of the tunnel.

While there is no questioning the respect Box’s replacement continues to have for his former comrade, Wort’s reverence for his lost friend was evident in the way the linebacker made plays during one of the best statistical games of his career.

“[Wort] was all over the field and played really well,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “It was very neat to see him in No. 12 and remembering Austin. He really represented Austin in a really great way.”

Wort had five tackles and two quarterback hurries, enough to earn both him and the honorary No. 12 jersey their first game balls.

For Wort, who became Box’s replacement on the Sooner depth chart at middle linebacker, accolades from the game weren’t the best part of honoring his brother.

“It was a special moment to see the crowd react like that, wearing my friend’s jersey,” Wort said. “It was a special moment; I got to go out there, go to midfield and just see the crowd go nuts.”

But Wort wouldn’t be the only one this season who has demonstrated the power of the No. 12 jersey.

By the numbers, the No. 12 wearer has been nothing short of explosive on defense this season, with a combined 40 tackles, four QB hurries and three pass breakups.

In the third game of the season against conference rival Missouri, junior safety Javon Harris led the team with 10 total tackles against the Tigers, the best tackling performance by a No. 12 jersey wearer this season.

Although OU squeaked by with a 38-28 win in Norman, Harris’ 10 tackles were the most of his career and nearly half the amount the Lawton native had last season (28).

But it didn’t end with Harris.

Sophomore defensive back Aaron Colvin also tied a personal best with eight tackles during his opportunity to don the No. 12. The eight tackles were second-best on the team during a win against Kansas.

A week before Colvin’s performance, senior linebacker Travis Lewis also had eight tackles during the Red River Rivalry in Dallas, which was second-best on the team during the rivalry game.

It’s been no secret that Lewis, who is one of team’s captains, is responsible for deciding who gets to wear No. 12 — but performing as he did when observing his right to bear Box’s number showed the type of leadership he gives the Sooners.

“Travis has been a great leader,” coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s a smart player who really works hard, and he always does a great job. I know he took a lot of pride in wearing Austin’s number. He and Austin were very close coming into school at the same time together and both playing linebacker, so it meant a lot to him and really inspired the team.”

But the truest testament to how special this jersey is for OU has come when the Sooners haven’t fared well in the final outcome of the game.

Junior defensive end Ronnell Lewis wore the jersey during the game that ended OU’s 39-game home win streak — the 41-38 loss to Texas Tech.

And Lewis’ numbers were nothing short of stellar, even with the Sooners failing to pick up the win. He tied his career highs for both tackles (8) and tackles for loss (3) while also recording a sack for an 11-yard loss.

Lewis expressed his disappointment that the Sooners didn’t bring out their ‘A’ game against the Red Raiders, but he and the No. 12 jersey certainly did their part on defense.

And in the loss to Baylor, the Box legacy made a pivotal appearance of its own in the game. With the Bears facing 4th-and-1 on its own 33, quarterback Robert Griffin III was stopped at the line by junior defensive end David King to force a turnover on downs. Although junior defensive tackle Casey Walker wore the No. 12 jersey during the game, OU officials looked up a similar stop that happened against the Bears last season, and there was Box’s name, making the same fourth-down stop at the exact same yard line during the same weekend just one year ago.

With that play, there is little doubt Box’s spirit is still entwined in this Sooner football team.

Although his name still appears on the OU roster and there is a snippet of the pregame video shown every home game dedicated to his memory, the most important part is this team identifies itself as a brotherhood that won’t leave anyone behind.

Box’s legacy lives on because this Sooner team chooses to keep passing along the impact factor that is the No. 12 jersey.