Tom Brady Lends Support To Injured QB From Holmdel Team

HOLMDEL, NJ — It was one quarterback to another.

More words of encouragement and support came in for Aaron Van Trease, the Saint John Vianney Lancers quarterback who was injured in a game last month.

This time it was famed quarterback Tom Brady who told Van Trease he is rooting for him and thinking about him.

The short, low-key video was posted on the school's Twitter feed.

"I know you are super-strong and very courageous," Brady said.

He said he knows that Van Trease has received "a lot of love and a lot of support" from a lot of people - family, friends, the school and the greater community.

"Count us among those people," Brady said.

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl winner now leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is widely regarded as the best quarterback of all time.

The team thanked Brady and the Buccaneers "for the love and support to our brother AVT."

Van Trease, 18 and a Saint John Vianney senior, is recovering from a spinal injury he suffered Sept. 23 in a home game against Manasquan.

Just last week he got another greeting of support from several NFL greats who wanted to make sure Aaron knew the football world was concerned for him and rooting for him. The full video can be found on the Saint John Vianney Facebook site.

And there have been or will be many community fundraisers to aid the Van Trease family with medical bills, as described in a previous Patch story. The family lives in Manasquan.

There is a GoFundMe site set up by Manasquan neighbor Lindsay Scollo that has raised more than $150,000 as of Monday.