It started with a flyer, a few games of Madden and the 2006 Rose Bowl.
Adam Gotsis, a defensive lineman from Georgia Tech and the Broncos' second-round pick, grew up in Abbotsford, Australia, as an Aussie Rules Football player with aspirations of playing rugby. American football wasn't part of the dream. Not initially, anyway, and not without a bit of encouragement from his family.
His mother found a flyer on the web for an American football team for players age 14-19. For the 15-year-old Gotsis, playing among 19-year-olds with full beards was daunting. But with some coaxing by his older brother, Gotsis paid $300, received his pads, then headed to small, roped-off fields once a week for practice and once more for games.