NFL star Todd Gurley returns to Tarboro to host reading rally for students

TARBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Weeks after playing under the bright lights at the Super Bowl with the Los Angles Rams, Todd Gurley helped light up hundreds of small faces in his home town.

On Monday, Gurley and former University of Georgia teammate Malcolm Mitchell hosted a reading rally for Tarboro Elementary School students.

Each of the nearly 700 kiddos took home a new backpack with a copy of the book Mitchell wrote and self-published while in college.

Gurley has been surrounded in controversy because of his reduced workload in the playoffs.

Those topics were off-limits to ABC11 during the event. It was reported over the weekend that he may have arthritis in his left knee.