Connor Halliday limited yet eager in his pursuit of the NFL

Lorenzo Reyes | USA TODAY

INDIANAPOLIS – The tweet was heartbreaking.

It read, "22 years of hard work I was 3 (expletive) games away from my dream 3 freakin games away from being drafted and living my dream"

Connor Halliday sent the tweet on Nov. 2. He had been college football's leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns and completions per game for Washington State. But even though there were three games left in his senior season, a broken leg would end his Cougars career.

Looking back now, the memories still sting Halliday. But he's vowing to move forward.

"The timing was frustrating," Halliday said Thursday from Lucas Oil Stadium at the NFL scouting combine. "Injuries happen and I've stayed pretty healthy throughout my career. With only three games left in my career it was tough go down like that. But there's nothing I can do about it but work my butt off to get healthy and try to make a squad."

After a couple of grueling months of rehabilitation, Halliday now has to work even harder to realize an NFL dream. One of the invited quarterbacks at the combine this week, Halliday won't be able to perform any of the on-field drills due to his injury, but his presence here goes a long way toward his quest to get drafted.

Halliday underwent the standard medical tests given to all players at the event, which gives teams an update on his fractured leg. But the most important part of his presence here will happen during the interview stage when teams get 15 minutes to ask questions and try to determine the character of a prospect.

One of the topics sure to come up?

Halliday's time under Mike Leach's specialized Air Raid offense, which doesn't translate to the NFL. Halliday admitted that he's "a little behind the 8-ball" when it comes to understanding NFL offenses, but under the tutelage of Jim Zorn in Seattle recently he has tried to absorb as much knowledge as possible.

When asked to describe how his time under Leach would impact his chances of getting drafted, Halliday covered both sides – the bad and the good.

"A negative would be he doesn't talk much about fronts and linebacker movements and things like that but a positive would be that I've called my own plays at the line of scrimmage, I can check plays at the line of scrimmage," he said. "I can get us into check-with-me runs and stuff like that, so it's a little give and take."

Halliday threw for 11,308 yards, 90 touchdowns and 50 interceptions. Not only did he shatter just about every major WSU record, he currently holds the single-game Division I passing record when he collected 734 passing yards in an October loss against Cal. He likely would have set even more had he not gotten hurt.

Despite the gaudy numbers, however, Halliday knows come draft day, he'll have to wait. He said he has received draft-advisory grades, which provide a projection of where a prospect is likely to be drafted, anywhere from the third round to undrafted.

What could help his cause is a chance to get back on the field. Just three-and-a-half months removed from surgery, Halliday is jogging on solid ground, running on 70% of his body weight on an alter-G treadmill and taking three-step drops before light tosses.

"I think everybody is kind of waiting to see how healthy I can show that I am at my Pro Day, whether that be March 12 or whether I hold my own thing in the first week of April," Halliday said. "I just need to hold a workout before the draft and if I do that and show that I'm healthy I think I will jump up quite a bit from where I am projected right now.''

Among the teams that have spoken with Halliday so far this week are the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the San Diego Chargers, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys.

If all goes well, maybe Halliday will have something more positive to tweet about in the spring. But regardless of what happens, he knows that his injury is just another obstacle he'll need to fight through.

"It's definitely frustrating when something like that happens," Halliday said. "But you better get over it and you better figure out that the rehab process is going to be that much harder."