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Ryan Shazier's Father to ESPN: “We Have Seen Some Improvement That Is Encouraging”

Dan Hope's picture
December 21, 2017 at 3:12pm
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As former Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier continues his recovery from a severe spinal injury suffered Dec. 4, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler caught up with Shazier's father, Vernon, who told ESPN that his son is making progress and relying on his faith as he continues his recovery.

"We have seen some improvement that is encouraging," Vernon said. "We're taking it one day at a time. We do not know what tomorrow holds. It's a [daily] journey we don't know. But I know God is getting the message."

Vernon told Fowler that his son has been uplifted by the many messages of support that he has received from people both inside and outside the NFL.

"You've got little kids that are praying for him. He has over a million people praying for him," Vernon said. "It's coming from so many different sources. ... I got an email from a kid who has a medical issue, where Ryan has touched his heart. You have kids wishing Ryan gets better for Christmas. It's keeping us up."

Despite his season-ending and potentially career-ending injury, Shazier was selected to the Pro Bowl earlier this week, which his father said accomplished one of his two goals for the season. And although Shazier won't be able to return to the field this year, his father said he still has his sights on his team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, accomplishing the other one.

"Ryan had two goals going into the year -- a Pro Bowl and a Super Bowl," Vernon said. "He's been able to check one off the list. He's hoping to check the next one off."

You can read Fowler's full story at ESPN.com.

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