FLAT ROCK, Mich. – Aidan Hutchinson is having a fantastic season with the Detroit Lions, but you may have noticed he’s turned it on in these last four games.
Should we credit his Lions coaches, his work ethic? Well, yes, but also possibly a 9-year-old good luck charm named Connor.
Connor Adcock is Aidan Hutchinson’s biggest fan. Full disclosure, he used to like Matthew Stafford, but when he made the switch, so did Connor. Ever since Hutch was drafted, it’s been a perfect fit for this Michigan family.
Connor is the miracle rainbow baby of Melissa and Seve Adcock. It’s been a long hard road in many ways. Connor was born at 25 weeks. He weighed 1 pound, 9 ounces, and spent the first 229 days of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit. Nine years later, Connor’s cerebral palsy means he faces daily challenges -- walking being one of them.
Back in December, while putting in some hard work, Connor decided to give a shoutout to his favorite player on Instagram.
“Try to get another sack!” Connor requested.
Hutch saw Connor’s video.
“Three minutes later, my mom saw something on her phone,” Connor recalled. “She’s like, ‘What? Is that Aidan Hutchinson?!’ And then she showed me the video.”
“Connor, my man,” Hutchinson said in his own video. “Thanks so much for the video. I am going to try my hardest to get that sack and that touchdown. Thanks, brother!”
And guess what happened in the game against the Cowboys? After a sack slump of sorts, Hutch came alive and sacked Dak Prescott three times.
Next game, the Lions played the Vikings at home. The Adcock family went and Connor made another video at Ford Field. Hutchinson had two sacks in that game and in the wildcard game against the Rams, he took Stafford down twice.
Was it a coincidence? Hutch doesn’t think so. He named Connor one of his Hutch’s Heroes and wrote his name on his water bottle.
Related: Hutch Heroes: A family commitment
“This is my boy, Connor,” Hutchinson said at a press conference when asked about the water bottle. “He’s got cerebral palsy and always sending me videos. ‘Aidan, you’re going to get three sacks today!’ and been getting them recently, so I feel like he’s my good luck charm.”
It’s a friendship that inspires both of them.
“I feel like he’s my good luck charm and I’m his good luck charm,” Connor said.
While Connor has never met Aidan Hutchinson in person, he knows he’s kind of busy, but he does hope to meet his hero one day. Until then, he’ll continue practicing walking. Talk about the definition of grit.
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