In the span of about three hours on Saturday, we saw two horrific and similar leg injuries to very fun players. One, as you know, was to Connor Halliday -- a senior, the nation's top passer, and a very exciting player on a team that hasn't been all that exciting. The other was Laquon Treadwell, a sophomore on a very good team, who fractured his ankle inches from scoring the game-winning touchdown.
College football is awesome. College football also sucks a whole lot at times. Some of those times are superficial: losses sting but that sting goes away fairly quickly. It's just a loss, and life goes on (we've seen a lot of losses in the last decade).
Some of those times are not superficial, like when a player -- any player -- is injured. Football is a hazardous sport, of course, and players will be nicked up, banged up, and will play through pain until they can't. But watching any college football player go down with a serious injury is that much more heartbreaking. Watching Halliday and Treadwell go down in horrific fashion was tough for anyone to watch.
Which is why the following tweet is a punch in the gut. Not only was Halliday's season ended, it sounds like he's very worried about his career.
@PappaMeighen 22 years of hard work I was 3 god damn games away from my dream 3 freakin games away from being drafted and living my dream
— Connor Halliday (@c_halliday12) November 2, 2014
This was sent on Sunday, and I'm sure Halliday is still very emotional about what happened. We don't know what the timetable for his recovery is, but considering the injury and surgery it's likely going to be a difficult road back. Bear in mind this is a player who has been through a lacerated his liver, an that took a significant amount of time to recover from before, too, and factor that in to how he reacted to this.
As we said earlier, everything about Halliday's injury is awful. He was a very bright spot from Washington State this season, and without guessing about draft stocks or status it's likely he would have a decent shot at being drafted (even if as a late-round pick). As much as we'd like to believe college football players live and die for their schools, the ultimate goal for any athlete is to put in their time, do the best they can do, and try to go pro and get paid.
Two decades of work might've been shattered by about two seconds on Saturday. But Halliday still has a very good chance to bust his ass and make a roster somewhere. The road isn't easy, but I wouldn't bet against him either.