Countdown to 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement: Patrick Willis

PATRICK WILLIS always dreamed with confidence.

On Oct. 16, 2001, Willis wrote a note on the back of a car poster hanging in his childhood bedroom. Signed and dated with his name and high school jersey number, it read: “Age 24 Pro Basketball or Football.”

Whether the note was a dream or a promise, Willis began the journey to fulfill it at Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central High School in west Tennessee. There, he balanced caring and providing for his three younger siblings with playing three sports.

The University of Mississippi, impressed by the determined young athlete who received state recognition as both a linebacker and a tailback, wanted to help make Willis’ dreams a reality. During his first year, he played in 13 games and received the Scholar-Athlete Award from the National Football Foundation.

In his junior year with the Rebels, Willis led the country with 90 solo tackles. His senior season, he was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and was honored with the Butkus Award, Lambert Trophy and the Conerly Trophy, the latter awarded to Mississippi’s best college football player.

Ole Miss linebackers coach Dave Saunders described Willis as “the ultimate competitor,” saying, “When the football gods drew up a linebacker, they were thinking of Patrick Willis.”

For opposing teams, Willis was nothing short of a nightmare.

“This guy scares me,” then-Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said in an interview. “I wake up in the middle of the night and see No. 49.”

In 2007, Willis was drafted 11th overall by the San Francisco 49ers. At age 22, he had fulfilled his promise two years early and began living his dream.

During his rookie season, the 6-foot-1 Willis secured 174 tackles and the title of AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

RAY LEWIS, who inspired Willis to wear No. 52 during his professional career, spoke about the young linebacker.

“He plays the game with fire,” Lewis siad. “He reminds me of myself.”

Willis continued to excel, securing 950 career combined tackles across eight seasons. Even as professional football became Willis’ every day, it never stopped feeling like a dream to him.

He recalled watching a documentary about Walter Payton that featured MIKE SINGLETARY, Roger Craig and JERRY RICE when he was in sixth grade.

He remembers saying to himself, “’I’m going to get there. I’m going to be like one of them.’”

By 2008, Willis was a captain for the 49ers and walked onto the field with Rice on his right, Craig on his left and Singletary, then a coach, behind him.

Willis’ dream didn’t end with the conclusion of his eight-year career, it merely transformed.

“There will be someone who is overlooked some, who is struggling with things in life, but is a hard worker and won’t give up,” he said. “When that person comes along, and they are compared to me, that will be an honor.”