Last year, Minnesota had a redshirt offensive lineman Nick Connelly who stopped playing football.

He was battling concussions and head injuries, so he decided to step away from the sport. On Tuesday, P.J. Fleck opened up his press conference as he always does with the media.

What was different, though, was that he gave his opening statement in regard to Connelly. The former lineman is battling Burkitt’s lymphoma — a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Here’s Fleck:

Fleck mentioned that his prayers and thoughts are with Connelly and his family as he continues to fight.

“He’s got incredible resolve, and he’s a wonderful human being. I know he’s got a lot of teammates praying for him and that’s important.”

Connelly was the starting right tackle for the Golden Gophers in 2017 before retiring. He had 5 known concussions in 6 years.