Five months after his passing, the CW drama All American has paid tribute to late actor Kamar de los Reyes.

De los Reyes (also known for roles such as his longtime stint on iconic daytime soap opera One Life to Live), who portrayed the role of Coastal California’s Coach Montes, passed away last December at the age of 56 after a battle with cancer.

During this week’s episode of All-American, the show addressed Montes’ on-screen absence by revealing the character accepted a job with the NFL. The episode also saw Asher Adams (Cody Christian), make a phone call to his mentor wishing him a goodbye.

In an interview with TVLine (as reported by TV Insider), Christian opened up about his close friendship with de los Reyes and how similar it was to the relationship between their characters on the show.

“I did have a very unique relationship with that man outside of the show,” Christian said. “Just in those two-and-a-half years, I went through hell and back in my own life. Kamar was acting as a real-life coach for me many, many, many times. We would shoot all day and then spend a couple hours after shooting just talking and catching up on life. I relied on him a lot.” 

Watch All-American’s tribute to De los Reyes in the clip below below.