49ers’ Patrick Willis seemed destined for Hall of Fame from the start: ‘He was everything’ (paywall)
“As nasty as Willis was on the field, he was as gentle off it. He was so soft-spoken that his first position coach, Mike Singletary, wanted to employ a vocal coach to help him project the defensive calls to his teammates. As a rookie, Smith was struck by how the consensus All-American carried himself like an undrafted rookie, radiating humility and hunger.
That rookie became a leader who tenderly shared parts of his painful past during locker-room speeches.