Advertisement

Minnesota's Casey O'Brien, cancer survivor, sees first college action in win over Rutgers

Sam Cooper
·College football writer
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - AUGUST 29: Casey O'Brien #14 of the Minnesota Gophers warms up before the game against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on August 29, 2018 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Gophers defeated the Jackrabbits 28-21. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Casey O'Brien #14 of the Minnesota Gophers warms up before the game against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

The point Minnesota added to increase its lead to 28-0 in the fourth quarter against Rutgers wasn’t an ordinary extra point.

The kick marked the first college football action for Casey O’Brien, a redshirt sophomore holder for the Gophers. O’Brien’s appearance is significant. He’s a four-time cancer survivor who has held onto his role on the Minnesota football team despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy and 14 surgeries.

That’s why O’Brien’s teammates reacted the way they did after a simple extra point. Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck was overcome with emotion on the sidelines and greeted O’Brien with with a big hug.

What a cool moment, huh?

“The whole team mobbed him on the field after the game,” Fleck told Yahoo Sports. “He found a way to make his dream happen, to keep working and working and working until it did. I know it’s a hold, but that’s pretty important. He’s the biggest motivator … we have on this team.”

O’Brien was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, as a freshman in high school. He has been cancer-free for more than a year. He told the Athletic this summer that he was told football wouldn’t be a part of his life after the diagnosis.

“When I was first diagnosed with cancer, I was told that I wouldn’t play football again,” O’Brien told The Athletic. “And I knew that I needed football in my life, that had been something that had been there my whole life, and I just wasn’t ready to give it up. So I kind of had a back and forth with the doctors, like there’s gotta be a way that I can still play. I ended up talking them into letting me move from quarterback to placeholder. This was after nine months of chemotherapy, and eight-and-a-half-hour knee surgery, they were like, you can’t take a hit. I was like, OK, all I can either be a punter or I could be a place holder. I can’t punt at all, so that narrowed it down to one position.”

And when Minnesota added another touchdown later in the fourth quarter, O’Brien was back out on the field for a second hold to help his team go up 35-0.

More from Yahoo Sports: