Panthers' Connor ready to start all over...........

[AKPantherFan]

By JOSEPH SANTOLIQUITO

For the Daily News

Dan Connor was that fine blend of everything on a football field.

Speed. Power. Grace. Raw determination, mixed in with that uncanny prescience that all special players possess, reacting to things before they occur. Playing football always came so easily.

The small crowds at St. Francis of Assisi grade school's games in Springfield would marvel at the young Connor. Flag football. Pee-wee football. It didn't matter. He always excelled. He seemed preordained to one day play in the National Football League. So it came as no surprise when he starred at Strath Haven High, then at Penn State, and was eventually drafted in the third round by the Carolina Panthers in 2008.

Now he was looking up at three flights of steps last fall, wondering how to climb them. His left knee throbbing, Connor wondered to himself if this was it, the end of his football journey?

"There were a lot of things that went through my mind, things like, can I get back to where I was, and not only that, but can I take a step forward because I wasn't about to have two rookie seasons in a row," Connor said. "I have to progress. Proving I can play in the NFL has been the toughest thing I've had to do in my whole life. But more importantly, I had to prove to myself that I can play at the same level I've played at my whole life."

Hopefully, Dan Connor, the player who stood out at Strath Haven, the one who excelled at Penn State, will be making a return Sunday, possibly making his first NFL start when the Panthers host the Eagles, Connor's favorite childhood team.

The torn anterior cruciate ligament Connor incurred in the Panthers' third game of '08 at Minnesota seems fully healed. The surgery that took place in October to repair the knee and the 7 months of rehab to get back on the field seem so distant now.

He's built more like a small tank, at 6-2, 242 pounds. Connor would be taking the place of the Panthers' All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason, who sprained the MCL in his left knee during a preseason game against Miami. Beason has not practiced in 2 weeks, but said he will be able to play against the Eagles.

"Everything now is more mental to me than anything else," Connor said. "At least it was getting through this. You keep questioning yourself, is my knee strong enough? Am I still a good football player? Those were the biggest things that have weighed on my mind.

"I knew the knee would fully heal. My biggest worry is to be the same player I was before. I think I'm getting real close to where I want to be. But it's been a real process. I watch practice films and I'm seeing things, how I'm moving from side-to-side, my lateral speed is good. It's actually all taken me by surprise."

What got Connor to this juncture was the challenge. Connor was never before hurt while playing football. His father, Jim, the defensive coordinator at Strath Haven, can't remember a time Dan sat out. Sure, there were the typical bumps and bruises that always come with playing football. But nothing like this.

That changed last Sept. 21 in the Panthers' 20-10 loss to Minnesota. Connor, who had been one of Carolina's better special teamers, was running downfield in kickoff coverage when he made a cut and his left cleat got caught in the Metrodome turf. The rest of him kept moving; Connor still made the tackle.

But when he came off the field, he felt a slight twinge in his left knee, though he thought nothing of it.

"I really didn't think there was anything wrong," Connor recalled. "But I started to hear this clicking sound in my knee and it got worse after the punt return coverage. I've never been hurt in my life."

What challenged him beyond anything he could imagine was the rehab. From October to May of this year, Thanksgiving Day morning, Christmas Eve, Connor was there toiling. It seemed a never-ending chapter of 6-hour workouts, 5 days a week, doing everything from power lunges, walking lunges, walking in the pool, various leg lifts and the slow grind at the end of each day walking up the steps to his third-floor apartment.

"I had no elevator, so what would usually take me a few seconds to do would take me 25 minutes, going up and down those steps on crutches, going back and forth from rehab," said Connor, who's donated $20,000 to the Strath Haven program for 150 pairs of spikes. "It's something you always remember. I will. But what made it gratifying was being able to put back on a football helmet and get back on the field."

The Connor family, Jim and Dan's two older brothers, Jimbo and Mike, are planning to travel to Bank of America Stadium, in Charlotte, for the Panthers' home opener. Strath Haven and Penn State fans will be keeping a close eye on how No. 55 does.

"I have such a greater appreciation of everything, I even enjoyed 2-a-days, but that lasted for about the first 2 weeks," Connor said, laughing. "This whole thing did rekindle my love for the game. I've been playing since I was 5, 6 years old. I think I was taking it for granted for a time there.

"Being healthy is so important and having it taken away puts football in perspective. It makes you appreciate being able to do it and do it for a living."

The experience, Connor said, took him back to a time early in his high school career. It gave him that same excited feeling at the end of July, trying on full pads and looking in the mirror, sizing yourself up and imagining the plays you'll make.

"Losing that time was eye-opening, how much football means to me and being able to play again," Connor said. "I love playing."

more;

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20090909_Panthers__Connor_ready_to_start_all_over.html

[Cyberjag]

Expect Connor to get injured again, now that he's changed his number to 55. A lot of bad mojo in that number...

[boxer]

Expect Connor to get injured again, now that he's changed his number to 55. A lot of bad mojo in that number...

Coupled with the first name Dan?

[PantherExpress]

Expect Connor to get injured again, now that he's changed his number to 55. A lot of bad mojo in that number...

Coupled with the first name Dan?

He's doomed!

DOOOOOOMMMMED!

[joemac]

I really wish that they would replace Diggs with Connor. We would have one sick ass starting LB corps with Connor, Beason and Davis. Diggs is the weak link, and its obvious to everyone that Connor needs to be starting.

[rayzor]

an LB who starts of his pro career on IR changing his number to 55?

yikes. hope he reflects the talent and not the inability to stay on the field.