Tashawn Manning, Auburn Recruit, Diagnosed with Lymphoma

High school football recruit Tashawn Manning, who committed to the Auburn Tigers in June, has been diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, per Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel.

According to Buck and Nakia Manning, Tashawn was experiencing symptoms of fatigue and general physical weakness. After first being diagnosed with pneumonia, he visited another doctor, who ran various blood and bone marrow tests before discovering he had cancer.

"We weren’t thinking anything like that," Buck said, per Hays. "We were just thinking it was something more with the pneumonia. Leukemia or anything like that never entered my mind. It was hard."

Tashawn is undergoing chemotherapy to eradicate the cancer cells, and Buck said he has a 90 percent chance of being cured.

According to 247Sports' composite rankings, Tashawn is the No. 60 defensive tackle in the country and is ranked No. 980 overall. He's also the 134th-best player in Florida.

"They did a great job recruiting me," he said of his decision to commit to Auburn, per Bryan Matthews of AuburnSports.com. "[Assistant coach Scott Fountain] is a great guy and great coach. They want me to play at both the nose and defensive tackle."

Buck confirmed his son will be unable to enroll early at Auburn as was originally planned, per Hays, but said that the Tigers "got his back and they support him 100 percent."