Things could have been a bit different if former NFL player Connor Harris would have followed the sport he initially loved, soccer! Connor found belonging in sports early on as he played for hours on end in the neighborhood, running around and playing just about every sport with kids in the area. His passion for football became apparent, and with grit and natural talent, he built a successful football career.
Connor was a four-time team captain and three-time All-American at Lindenwood University, gaining him accolades including the Cliff Harris Award (best small college defensive player in the country) and the NCAA All-time Leading Tackler in any division with 633 tackles!
Finding success at the college level, Connor made the effortless transition to a professional NFL career playing for teams such as the New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, and Cincinnati Bengals.
Spending a majority of his adolescence and early adult years training and committing to the sport of football, resilience is in Connor’s DNA. Through the constant training — long days and early hours — and always performing at a high level, there is bound to be a few bumps along the way. Connor, however, learned to navigate these setbacks and created a robust mindset where he realized that there is no such thing as failure if you learn from it. Difficult times were used as a learning curve for him to keep pushing through — to keep learning. These things were no longer viewed as bad, but rather as teachers to help him improve himself and the game he loved so much.
Connor was able to perform at the collegiate and professional levels because he was always willing to learn and put in the effort to get better. There were no shortcuts he was willing to risk — time and consistency were what guided him while training and on the field.
While Connor has retired from the sport he loves so much, he’s able to take what he learned in that season of life and apply it to what he’s doing now. Connor is a project manager for a sports construction company — Mammoth Sports Construction — and when he’s not in the office or on a job site, he likes to spend his time working out and training athletes.
His experience in football translates into everyday life from his work ethic to leadership skills, they all can be reflected back to the time he was playing sports.
Training and years of playing football professionally can take its toll on the body, which is why Proven4 has teamed up with Connor. Although he may be retired, he still puts in the hard work in the gym and needs products that fuel his goals.
When you wake up at 4:30 am every day to hit the gym for over an hour, you need products you can rely on. Connor relies on Proven4 and has chosen our products because they are NSF Certified For Sport® and certified for banned substances. He stands by this because when he was playing at the college and professional levels, he needed products that were not only clean and kept him compliant with drug testing from the NCAA or NFL, but also products that would optimize his training.
Though not on the field anymore, Connor still stands behind the best supplements that are clean and effective.
Connor enjoys Proven4’s Cherry Limeade Energy Formula and incorporates both the pre-workout and recovery formulas into his training, and it’s true that his training looks a little different now that he’s retired, but he still is committed to a warm-up — usually 10 minutes of cardio — followed by strength training and recovery work.
Apart from his day job and training athletes, Connor is married and has two young boys that he loves spending time with. He hopes to continue to make an impact in youth sports, and share his skills, knowledge, and passion for the game of football with kids in the area.