Max Duggan thought football was over after heart surgery
FORT WORTH, Texas (BVM) – TCU QB Max Duggan could very much win the Heisman Trophy and a College Football Playoff National Championship this season.
Duggan has had an unimaginable journey to get to this point in his football career. He’s not only played through broken bones, but he’s also played just weeks after undergoing a nine-hour heart surgery.
In late 2020, Duggan tweeted that he discovered that he had a heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome – a relatively common heart condition that causes the heart to beat abnormally fast for periods of time. He underwent a nine-hour heart procedure to fix his condition, and days later, he had emergency surgery due to a blood clot.
Just four weeks after his surgeries, Duggan threw three touchdown passes in a 34–31 loss to Iowa State. It was an amazing feat in itself that shows just one of the reasons why Duggan displays the characteristics of a potential Heisman winner.
“Initially I thought when they say you have a heart issue and it’s pretty serious, you’re going to have to have surgery, I thought football was probably over,” Duggan said on the Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday.
For the 2022 season, Duggan told Patrick that he was disappointed that he didn’t initially land the starting quarterback spot. But everything fell into place after he got the starting job and led the Frogs to the College Football Playoff (after being ranked 7th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll).
Duggan threw for 3,320 passing yards and 30 touchdowns with four interceptions and 580 rushing yards. He also ran for six touchdowns to lead the team to a nearly undefeated record.
Duggan has already landed in New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony that’ll take place this Saturday.
And he's on the way to NYC! @MaxDuggan_10 caught up with @sydneypersing as he headed out to Baltimore for the Unitas Golden Arm Award and Manhattan for the Heisman ceremony. Good luck!#HE15MAN
👊🐸🏈 pic.twitter.com/6CfjDgBbXW— Marc Istook (@MarcIstook) December 7, 2022
