Daniel Murphy Connor is an
American footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
linebackerA linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
for the
Carolina PanthersThe Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
of the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He was drafted by the Panthers in the third round of the
2008 NFL DraftThe 2008 NFL Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 26 and April 27, 2008. For the 29th consecutive year, ESPN televised the draft; the NFL Network also broadcast the event, its third year doing so...
. He played
college footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
at
Penn StateThe Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It is one of the most tradition-rich and storied college football programs in the...
.
Connor was a two-time
All-AmericaAn All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n and the 2007
Chuck Bednarik AwardThe Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive collegiate football player adjudged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States...
winner at Penn State. His 419 career
tacklesMost forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
is a school record.
Connor played
footballHigh school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
at
Strath Haven High SchoolStrath Haven High School is a four-year public high school in Wallingford, Pennsylvania serving the Township of Nether Providence and the Boroughs of Rose Valley, Rutledge, and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, as well as the communities of South Media, Garden City, Pennsylvania, and sections of Morton,...
in suburban Philadelphia and was rated the number one linebacker in the country. He was also named to the
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
Top 25 Supreme Team.
