Tom Brady gives JuJu Watkins injury recovery advice in front of USC class

Stephanie Kaloi

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Tom Brady gives JuJu Watkins injury recovery advice in front of USC class image

JuJu Watkins has a lot of people in her corner — including Tom Brady.

On Thursday April 17, USC Trojans Assistant Athletic Director Gavin Morris shared two videos from Pete Carroll's class at the school's Marshall School of Business. The videos were extra special because they featured two incredible athletes, Tom Brady and USC's own JuJu Watkins.

In the second video Watkins took the opportunity to ask Brady how he recovered from his own ACL tear and returned to football "better than ever."

A clearly excited Brady noted that it's "so crazy how this goes full circle on us" before he told Watkins that asking that question is a big part of the process. He added that it's important to "remember to talk about being open to learning and open to people that know a lot more about stuff."

Brady tore his ACL and his MCL during a game against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 7, 2008 — the first game of the season. Brady was injured almost as soon as the game began when he was hit on the knee by Bernard Pollard, and was taken out of the game with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter.

More: USC Trojans receive major JuJu Watkins injury update

Pollard was not penalized for the hit, though if it had happened after rules changed in 2018 he would have been. It was noted at the time that had he not been directly hit, Brady would not have suffered the damage.

Watkins tore her ACL during the NCAA Tournament, a moment that shook up the entire tournament. The injury can take over a year to recover from, and it's unclear at this point what Watkins' individual timeline looks like. 

Stephanie Kaloi

Stephanie is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. Her journalism career began entirely too long ago and is still her favorite thing to do. She covers women's sports (primarily basketball) and loves writing lengthy reports for no reason about exactly how each WNBA team will and will not succeed in any given season.