The most prolific passer in WSU football history held a teleconference yesterday to discuss his career, his recovery, and what his future holds.

Redshirt senior quarterback Connor Halliday said the injury process shouldn’t inhibit him from participating in pre-NFL draft workouts.

“I’m working my butt off in rehab right now, watching as much film as possible,” Halliday said. “This has been my dream since I was a little kid, so I’m going to do everything I can to make it a reality.”

The injury was devastating for Halliday, but he said he’s certainly appreciated all the support the community has given him through this time of adversity.

“It means the world to me that people take time out of their day to say a couple kind words to me or write a letter or whatever it may be,” Halliday said. “I can’t say thanks enough and I think it shows what a close-knit family we are out here in Pullman, and how strong Coug nation really is.”

When Halliday suffered the injury, he was hit in a way that didn’t look to be too out of the ordinary. However, Halliday said he knew instantly the significance of the injury when he was hit.

“When I was getting tackled I knew I was going to break my leg,” Halliday said. “I’ve been tackled like that probably 70-80 times in my career and when you’re going down your brain is shooting waves to your body to move your foot so your leg won’t break, well I tried to move my foot but it was underneath (redshirt sophomore offensive linemen) Sam Flor, so I knew when I was going down I was going to break my leg, heard it happen and then you go into extreme pain.”

After suffering the injury, many wondered whether or not it would play a significant role in Halliday’s chances of being drafted. Halliday said he has been told it shouldn’t be much of a factor.

“I’ve been told it wouldn’t affect it too much because it’s a bone and not a ligament,” Halliday said. “Bones always heal stronger than what they were before and if I tore my knee or something you don’t know how you come back from that, so I’ve been told it shouldn’t affect that. The only thing I can do is rehab my butt off and watch as much film and have the best pro day I can possibly have.”

When asked what he’ll remember most about his time at WSU, Halliday said he hopes his impact leads to sustained success for the program.

“Everything I’ve done in a leadership role has helped show Luke (Falk) how to do it the right way,” Halliday said. “Hopefully his career takes off and he breaks all my records and they start going to bowl games and everything that I wish I could’ve done.”

Halliday goes down in Cougar football history with multiple passing records. He leads all Cougars in passing yards (11,308), passing touchdowns (90), completions (1014), and attempts (1,634). Halliday also finishes his career with a completion percentage of 62.1 percent, well enough for first among quarterbacks with more than 120 attempts.

Although Halliday’s career didn’t finish how he would have liked, Cougar fans can appreciate the heart and dedication he gave to this program. Cougar nation wishes nothing but the best for Halliday’s dream and aspirations to become an NFL quarterback.

Reporting by William Cheshier