A big-time college career was a given, and thoughts of the N.F.L. percolated. During the summer before his senior year, [Mark] Herzlich committed to Virginia but reconsidered after a coaching change and chose Boston College. He was a starter by the end of his first season, led the team in tackles for loss in his second and was the Atlantic Coast Conference’s defensive player of the year in his third. Many draft experts predicted he would be a first-round choice if he left college, but he stayed. He wanted to earn his degree. The N.F.L. could wait.
But then, toward the end of that 2008 season and on through the spring, there was increasing pain in his left leg, screaming phone calls home in the middle of the night, the diagnosis and the invasive realities of treatment. Herzlich had a port, used to administer medicine intravenously, embedded in the right side of his chest. He gave up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because he did not want his favorite food spoiled by taste buds tainted during chemotherapy.
Herzlich’s battle with Ewing’s sarcoma caused him to miss the 2009 season, but he returned for his fifth year at B.C., playing just 10 months after surgery to remove the tumor in his leg. He led the Eagles on to the field for the season-opening game against Weber State, recording five tackles to resounding cheers. He started all 13 games. He won an ESPY award for Best Comeback.