Acting

Patrick Willis

Born January 25, 1985, in Bruceton, Tennessee, Patrick L. Willis overcame abject poverty to become one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history. Working in cotton fields by age ten, Willis fled his alcoholic father's violence at seventeen, moving in with his high school basketball coach Chris Finley and his wife Julie alongside his three siblings. At Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central High School, he became the first player in Tennessee history nominated for Mr. Football Award honors as both a lineman and a back in the same season. Willis attended Ole Miss from 2003 to 2006, dominating the SEC with his tackling prowess. As a senior, he won the Butkus Award and Jack Lambert Trophy as the nation's top linebacker while earning consensus All-American honors and SEC Defensive Player of the Year. His impressive 4.56-second forty-yard dash at the NFL Combine elevated his draft stock, leading the San Francisco 49ers to select him eleventh overall in 2007.