NFL Rookie Jonathan Willard Saves Family From Burning Car

NFL rookie Jonathan Willard hasn’t proved himself on the football field yet but, for the moment, he’s my favorite player in the league. Willard rescued a family and their dog from a burning vehicle on the side of the road this week.

According to USA Today, the former Clemson linebacker was driving on Interstate 40 in Tennessee when he noticed a car smoking as it drove down the highway. Willard said that he sped up to alert the car that it was, you know, on fire and told them to pull over to the side of the road.

Willard said: “I saw this car in front of me, and it had all kinds of black smoke coming out of it… I tried to speed up and get up next to the car to let them know the car was on fire.”

Willard said that the driver was in some sort of daze. When she pulled over Willard got out of his car and helped her got the kids and dog out of the vehicle.

Willard said: “When she pulled over, the car was really on fire at that point… 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 had 95 tackles for Clemson last year. He signed a free agent contract with the Titans after the 2013 NFL Draft.