Photo by AP Photo/Tennessee Highway Patrol
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Titans rookie linebacker Jonathan Willard is being hailed a hero after helping save a family from a burning car on I-40, moments before it exploded.
Willard, an undrafted free agent out of Clemson, was on his way to NFL training camp in Nashville, Tenn. at the time and saw smoke and flames coming from the family’s car in front of him. Williard and another passerby helped pull a woman, three small children and a dog to safety from the burning vehicle alongside I-40 west of Knoxville, according to reports.
Tennessee Titans linebacker Jonathan Willard says he is not a hero and was just in the right place at the right time, when he helped rescue the family from the burning vehicle on his way to camp on Tuesday, July 23.
A second man rescued a third child and the family’s dog with the SUV exploding into flames a couple minutes later, according to the Associated Press.
Willard said he and the other motorist tried to keep the family calm until firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.
In the undated photo above, released by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on Wednesday, July 24, the burned out vehicle is shown near Oak Ridge, Tenn.