Back from ankle injury, Aaron Donald is happy to work with the kids at the 4th annual camp

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Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald had a new topic to talk about at his Living in the Pocket Youth Skills Football Camp Saturday at Highmark Stadium.

How to recover from an injury.

The Penn Hills and Pitt product is in his professional football career for the first time. Donald missed seven games with an ankle injury last season, the most he hasn’t missed since entering the league in 2014.

“It’s a process where you have to sit down and get stronger mentally,” Donald said. “The physical part when you first got injured and had surgery, you can’t do much, so to be able to be mentally strong and work my body to where it needs to be now is huge. It is a long process. Here we are today, and I’m blessed to have the opportunity to play this game and be with these kids today.”

Donald was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI. In his career, he had 103 sacks and was named first-team All-Pro seven times. Last season, Donald finished with five sacks in 11 games.

The event at Highmark Stadium is the fourth time Donald, through his AD99 Foundation, has hosted the camp. Three hundred children are registered for the event.

Donald patrolled the field as he and other volunteers helped walk the kids through various drills. Brody Thompson, 8, of Columbus, Ohio, won a sprint competition, running with a red-and-white mouth guard.

“I love footwork,” Thompson said. “Footwork helps your feet get stronger. I’ve been going to the Aaron Donald Camp for three years now, and I love Aaron Donald.”

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The camp is for boys and girls from ages 6 to 18. Donald emphasized that the topics for the day go beyond the football field.

“Obviously, football is a sport,” Donald said. “But everything is bigger than football: work ethic, discipline and teamwork, which are things you need at this stage of life. It’s great to be with these kids and, obviously, we’re talking about football and having fun working football, but it’s bigger than sports. We talked about mental health.”

Because of his injury, as well as the Rams missing the playoffs, Donald had a longer offseason than usual. He said he’s trying to use some of the extra time off to spend time with family and focus on recovery.

Working at his football camp gives him a chance to show off his personality.

“It’s a fun day,” said Donald. “It’s a day to be with these kids and not only teach them football but to interact with them, to see me as a person and joke and play with them outside. Just being myself, it’s huge .”

Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.

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