Patrick Willis was a two-time All-American, a former SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a Butkus Award winner during his college days at Ole Miss, and since entering the NFL in 2007 he’s a five-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler.

Even at his advanced age with plenty of wear and tear on his body, he remains one of the most feared and most beloved defensive players in football. It’s hard to imagine any team telling Willis he couldn’t line up as its middle linebacker.

But that’s exactly what the Tennessee Volunteers told Willis many years ago when he was merely a high school recruit hoping to make a name for himself at the college level.

The Bruceton, Tennessee, native grew up obsessed with the Tennessee Volunteers and was desperate to earn a chance to don the orange and white for then-head coach Phillip Fulmer.

Unfortunately for Willis, the Vols were uninterested in the three-star inside linebacker prospect. That day was a low point for Willis, but it also served as the launching point for the career we’ve enjoyed watching for more than a decade now.

Willis recalled the day Tennessee finally shot him down in an interview with Pro Football Talk:

“I was a Vols fan growing up. That was like America’s Team. I wanted to go there so bad. After every game my dad and I would get in the car and drive five hours to go to Knoxville to watch them play on an unofficial visit. This was on our gas money and our time. I just wanted to show them how bad I wanted to be there. I can’t forget being there and you have all these other big-time recruits there and they are shaking their hands and the coaches are talking to them. The coaches never shook my hand. They never talked to me. One day I just got tired of doing that. My senior year, I remember going up and saying, ‘Coach I see all of the other guys getting love. I really want to come here. I’m interested in coming here. Do you have something for me? Maybe a scholarship offer? Maybe something just saying you want me?’ But I didn’t get that. I got, ‘Well you’re having a hard time. We’re recruiting two other linebackers, Ernie Sims and Daniel Brooks. Those are the two guys we want.’

For what it’s worth, Sims was an All-American in 2004 at Florida State and has enjoyed a nine-year NFL career, although he’s never earned a Pro Bowl nod or an All-Pro honor. Brooks attended Tennessee but was later kicked off the football team before eventually failing to reach the NFL.

Ultimately Brooks was a nobody and Sims was a productive player with NFL talent, but it’s Willis who has been the obvious superstar of the bunch. He spent his entire career trying to prove the Vols wrong for overlooking him, allowing the rejection to fuel him as he rose to stardom.

“I never forget looking at him and being like he basically said, ‘We’re not really interested, we don’t want you.’ I’ll never forget getting in the car with my foster dad and we’re riding home and I cried. I cried, not because I was sad, but more so because I knew how badly I wanted to be a Tennessee Vol. I knew what type of player I could be.”

Now we’ve all seen the type of player Willis has proven himself to be: tenacious, determined, physical, disciplined and motivated. It’s the reason he’s achieved nothing but success since arriving at Ole Miss and later advancing to the NFL, and it’s why Tennessee likely feels as much regret in passing on Willis as Willis feels disappointment in being overlooked more than a decade ago.

Willis’ first NFL head coach, Mike Singletary, a legendary NFL linebacker in his own right, spoke highly of the former Rebel when he first entered the league.

“I’ve coached two of the greatest linebackers,” Singletary said of Willis and NFL legend Ray Lewis to USA Today. “One that has already proven to be one of the greatest and one who will prove to be.”

That’s some high praise from one of the best to ever play the position. And Willis can trace it all back to his rejection from Tennessee. As it turns out, the Vols did more for his football career than many realize. But rest assured, Willis realizes it, and he’s grateful for how things turned out.

“The good Lord had a plan for me. I ended up going to Ole Miss. I went there and had a blast and had a great time playing football there,” Willis said. “Here I am all these years later.”