2015 was the most trying year of James Conner’s life. First, he tore his MCL in his first game of the season. Months later, he was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Every bit of encouragement was important for keeping Conner’s spirits high, but perhaps none more impactful than this text he got from college teammate Aaron Donald.
Though they only overlapped for one year at Pitt, Donald clearly knew that Conner was a special talent and that they would eventually share the field at the Pro Bowl. Sure enough, Conner was named to the Pro Bowl on Tuesday, three years and two weeks after his cancer diagnosis.