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James Conner soaked in every moment.
In his first practice since being told he was cancer-free of Hodgkin Lymphoma, he relished even waking up in the dorms before taking the shuttle to the South Side facilities.
The start of fall camp always brings out enthusiasm and optimism among the players and coaches, but for Conner this was different.
“I woke up and I knew it was going to be a great day. I’m thankful for it all,” Conner said Monday. “It felt like it was game day getting back onto the field. It was a great feeling all around.”
Though this was starkly different from spring camp, when Conner was a limited participant while still fighting through chemotherapy, coach Pat Narduzzi said much hasn’t changed, in that Conner always felt like an active member of the team.
“It’s great to have James back, but I can’t say he wasn’t out here, that’s the crazy thing,” Narduzzi said. “You would think he wasn’t with us, but he was here for winter workouts, he was here during spring ball.”
That feeling - that Conner was always there - is a shared sentiment among his coaches and teammates. To the uninitiated, it would not seem that Conner had just come off a major recovery. And in most respects, the coaches are treating Conner like that. He’s doing every drill in practice, though the coaches do exercise precaution.
“He’s going to be limited more by us than him because he’s never going to turn anything down. As coaches we’re going to have to limit him,” Narduzzi said. “But he’s over there throwing shoulders at people with shorts on.”
Conner isn’t the only one laying out the punishment physically, as Jordan Whitehead said the defense isn’t taking it easy on him either.
“We’re going after it every day. It’s still football,” Whitehead said. “When it’s time to go against each other we go against each other.”
The idea that Conner can come back from cancer - on top of the torn MCL that kept him out last year - and just be the same guy immediately might seem far-fetched. But Conner feels good about his conditioning, of which he says he’s working hard on every day. The mental side is coming along too, though it’s something that Conner acknowledges will take time.
“Just getting back in the rhythm of things, that will come with reps in practice,” Conner said.
Not all things are the same now as they were before for Conner, though. What was an intriguing but unproven group of running backs last year is now a position with some experience, as Conner is competing for time with Qadree Ollison, Darren Hall, Rachid Ibrahim and Chawntez Moss. Conner is still the unquestioned top dog among the group, though it’s likely that he’ll often share the field with other running backs. Narduzzi said that Pitt will employ two, three and maybe four-running back sets, which Conner believes can be a major weapon.
“We’re a dangerous group. We like to say that any of us can play and any of us can carry the load,” Conner said. “That could be something to see and we’ve got some formations and stuff. With all of us out there we’re going to do some damage.”
A younger Conner might have not been as open to the idea of splitting carries with several running backs, but after everything he’s been through he’s just happy to be on the field.
“You won’t hear me complain. My teammates won’t hear me complain again,” Conner said. “You always hear me say, ‘Anything is better than receiving chemotherapy.’ I’d rather stay out here on the field for 10 hours a day than receive chemotherapy.”
When that moment comes that he finally takes the field again, he’ll have plenty of support in stands, with loads of family and friends and his nurses and doctor from the cancer center. To say that Conner is simply excited for that moment would be reductive.
In the meantime, he’s using practice to get himself back up to top form. And even if he’s not back to that form for the opener against Villanova, he’s just happy to be back.
“We have twenty-something days before the season starts and I’m going to use all of them to get prepared for it,” Conner said. “I want to come back the best that I can and to the best of my abilities but we’ll see come September 3rd.”
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