Ottawa isn’t typically thought of as a development hub for NFL players, but that might be starting to change.
First, it was Neville Gallimore, who is having success with the Dallas Cowboys, and now two more up-and-coming players are closing in on the NFL dream.
Ottawa’s Luiji Vilain says he always knew where he wanted to end up.
“I see myself playing in the NFL; it’s been a dream of mine. I’m going to work for it,” he told CTV News Ottawa in 2016; that was while he was still in high school — and now, “I declared for the NFL draft,” he says.
He is saying goodbye to his time at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, one step closer to his chance of playing in the NFL.
“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do my whole life. Ever since I started playing football, it’s been a dream of mine. It’s big, because coming from Canada, not too many people get this opportunity,” he says.
And he’s not the only one. Ottawa’s Jesse Luketa, who plays for Penn State, has also declared for the 2022 NFL draft.
Danny Nesrallah, a coach and mentor, is pumped about Luketa’s prospects.
“This kid got over 70 scholarship offers, which I think is probably more than any Canadian in history,” he says. “It’s been several years now, it’s been slowly progressing, and there was no doubt that this kid, he’s going to go somewhere with this.”
Go somewhere, like Ottawa’s Neville Gallimore, who now plays for the Dallas Cowboys in a city more than ready to claim him.
“The talent is here; it’s about the kids putting their head down, working, building character. You will see this trend going forward,” says coach, and Vilain’s mentor, Victor Tedondo,
“He worked so hard for the past 10 years of his life, he’s able to accomplish his dream; I’m really happy for him - that Luiji not only went on, graduated university of Michigan, which is one of the best universities in the country, but he went on to get his masters from Wake Forest, for me - that’s priceless, even more important than playing a game in the NFL.”
As he tackles his goals, Vilain does have advice for anyone dreaming of the NFL too.
“If you have a dream, if you have a goal, you have to work at it. It’s going to take consistency, it’s going to take a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifices. If you want it, you have to work for it.”
