Minnesota Gophers wide receiver Connor Cosgrove has been diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia, coach Tim Brewster said after Wednesday’s practice.

Cosgrove, 19, is a redshirt freshman who walked on to the Minnesota football team after transferring from St. Cloud State.

“He wasn’t feeling well lately and we ran some tests, and unfortunately they came back and showed that he has an acute form of leukemia,” said Brewster who learned of the diagnosis Tuesday.

Cosgrove is the son of co-defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove . Brewster said his father missed Tuesday’s practice but returned Wednesday.

Connor began chemotherapy at an area hospital immediately after the diagnosis, Brewster said.

“This is a challenge, and we’re going to help a brother and teammate through it,” Brewster said. “This team, recently, has been challenged awful hard.”

Just more than one week ago, senior fullback Jon Hoese’s father passed away. Terry Hoese, who suffered a stroke weeks before, was just 53.

Kevin Cosgrove will coach in Saturday’s game, Brewster said, but plans on spending time with his son at the hospital. The Gophers host No. 18 Southern Cal at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s life,” Brewster said. “It’s life, and dealing with life’s challenges is something that we all have to do and we’ll do that. We’ll rally together again and get it done.”