Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
On his way to Tennessee Titans training camp Tuesday, undrafted free agent linebacker Jonathan Willard had the experience of a lifetime. He was traveling from South Carolina to Nashville via Interstate 40 when he noticed a family in trouble on his way. The former Clemson standout decided to stop and wound up being a true hero.
“I saw this car in front of me, and it had all kinds of black smoke coming out of it,” Willard told TigerNet.com — a Clemson sports website. ”I tried to speed up and get up next to the car to let them know the car was on fire.”
Willard explained to the website that he tried honking his horn at the car full of three children, a dog and the female driver.
“When she pulled over, the car was really on fire at that point,” Willard said. ”The driver, she acted like she was in some kind of daze or something. She told me that she didn’t stop because she didn’t think it was her car that was on fire. Another guy stopped, and we managed to get the kids and the dog out and get them to safety, and then I finally got the woman out.”
Willard also said that he was able to help them get a few bags as well as the woman’s purse out of the car in enough time before the car exploded into flames.
The rookie acknowledged that he was happy he stopped because he realizes that it could have turned out much different had he not been there.
It looks like head coach Mike Munchak has a quality human being, if anything else, on his hands this summer. Willard’s heroics are incredibly impressive and it’s very hard not to root for the guy in terms of making the roster.
Ryan Heckman is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmheckman, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
