At first, Sam Fleming kept a poker face. On Jan. 26, 2025, he sat in a doctor's office after receiving confirmation of a brutal diagnosis, a torn Achilles tendon. The news hadn’t hit him yet. It hadn’t fully processed.
About three minutes passed. Then the emotions overcame him as he sat inside the doctor’s office. He didn’t touch his phone and let him feel everything he needed to.
“I just sat there and cried for the next two or three hours,” Fleming said.
Just three months earlier, Fleming was on an unofficial visit to Michigan State and roaming the sidelines of a football game with legendary coach Tom Izzo. The 6-foot-8 forward from Springfield, Mass., believed he was the best player in his class in New England. The injury significantly derailed his journey, but he may have become stronger for it.
