Dan Connor (American football)

Dan Connor (American football)
Dan Connor

Connor in 2008.
No. 55     Carolina Panthers
Linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth: November 2, 1985 (1985-11-02) (age 26)
Place of birth: Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Weight: 231 lb (105 kg)
Career information
College: Penn State
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 3 / Pick: 74
Debuted in 2008 for the Carolina Panthers
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 15, 2010
Tackles     81
Sacks     1.0
Interceptions     0
Stats at NFL.com

Daniel Murphy Connor (born November 2, 1985) is an American football linebacker for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Panthers in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Penn State.

Connor was a two-time All-American and the 2007 Chuck Bednarik Award winner at Penn State. His 419 career tackles is a school record.

Contents

Early years

Connor played football at Strath Haven High School in suburban Philadelphia and was rated the number one linebacker in the country. He was also named to the USA Today Top 25 Supreme Team.[1] He played in the 2004 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Conner rushed for over 1,500 yards his junior season and scored 29 touchdowns. On defense, he had more than 160 tackles to go along with 3 interceptions. As a senior he rushed the ball 231 times for 1,807 yards and 28 touchdowns. Defensively, Connor recorded 141 tackles, 11 sacks and three interceptions. For his career, Connor was 56-3 and started in 59 straight games. He finished with 591 carries for 4,531 yards and 77 rushing touchdowns. On defense, Connor amassed 461 tackles, 38 sacks and 19 interceptions.

College career

Connor earned All-America honors his junior and senior seasons at Penn State[2][3] and passed Nittany Lion great Paul Posluszny on November 3, 2007 to become first on Penn State's career tackles list.

Connor's game-high nine tackles along with an interception of a Colt Brennan pass in the 2008 Senior Bowl earned him the game's Under Armour Award—essentially the North team's MVP.[4][5]

Professional career

Pre-draft

Connor's superlative college career led to his #23 ranking on Sports Illustrated‘s list of the top 25 2008 NFL Draft candidates.[6]

He ran a 4.63 40 yard dash at his Pro Day. He also bench pressed 225 lbs 22 times and jumped 35" vertically.

Carolina Panthers

Connor was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round (74th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft.[7] Due the Panthers' wealth of talent at linebacker, Connor played sparingly—mostly on special teams—in the first 3 weeks of the 2008 season before a torn ACL suffered during a loss to the Minnesota Vikings ended his season.[8]

Despite reportedly fielding several trade inquiries during the 2010 offseason, the Panthers made it clear Connor will compete for a starting job this season after the team released veteran linebacker Na'il Diggs.[9]

References

  1. ^ "#40 Dan Connor". Penn State. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. http://web.archive.org/web/20070814004553/http://www.gopsusports.com/football/People/Player.cfm?rosterid=2514. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  2. ^ "Trio of Nittany Lions Earn All-America Honors From The Sporting News". Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics. 2006-12-14. http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/121406aaa.html. Retrieved 2007-07-10. 
  3. ^ "Tebow, McFadden top All-America team". FoxSports.com. http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7552834. Retrieved 2007-12-12. 
  4. ^ "Penn State's Connor captures Senior Bowl Under Armour Award". The Phanatic Magazine. 2008-01-27. http://daily.phanaticmag.com/2008/01/penn-states-connor-captures-senior-bowl.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28. 
  5. ^ Fernandez, Bernard (2008-04-23). "Any team will do in NFL draft for Penn State linebacker Connor". Philadelphia Daily News. http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20080423_Any_team_will_do_in_NFL_draft_for_Penn_State_linebacker_Connor.html. Retrieved 2008-04-25. [dead link]
  6. ^ "Top 25 NFL Draft Candidates for 2008". SI.com. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0704/gallery.nfl.2008.draft.candids/content.3.html. Retrieved 2007-08-14. 
  7. ^ Sam Ross, Jr.. "PSU's Connor picked by Panthers, WVU's Slaton picked by Texans". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_564606.html. Retrieved 2008-04-27. 
  8. ^ Schrager, Josh (2008-09-23). "Knee injury ends Connor's season". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20080923_Knee_injury_ends_Connor_s_season.html. Retrieved 2008-09-23. [dead link]
  9. ^ Yasinskas, Pat (2010-03-24). "Panthers turn down Connor trade talk". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcsouth/post/_/id/9116/carolina-panthers-turn-down-dan-connor-trade-trade-talk. 

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Paul Posluszny
Bednarik Award
2007
Succeeded by
Rey Maualuga