NFL team Denver Broncos put faith in Aussie Adam Gotsis

HE is the highest drafted Australian-born player in NFL history and Adam Gotsis has what it takes to make it with the Denver Broncos.

Adam Gotsis of the Denver Broncos has a huge future ahead of him.

THIS NFL season may have crept up on Australia without daily updates on former San Francisco 49er Jarryd Hayne’s American football escapades.

But for Melbourne’s Adam Gotsis, the buzz began building when he was drafted by the Denver Broncos, the Super Bowl champs, with pick 63 in April, the highest drafted Australian-born player in NFL history.

And having finally taken a snap, after playing several late minutes in last week’s nailbiting one-point win over the Carolina Panthers in the Broncos season opener, the giant 193cm, 130kg defensive end’s journey to the big time was complete.

Adam Gotsis has a huge future ahead of him in the NFL.

Gotsis, who was drafted by the Broncos despite suffering a season-ending knee injury in his final year at Georgia Tech, pushed himself as hard as humanly possible during the pre-season to show the Broncos their faith in him wasn’t misplaced.

He raised his readiness to such a level he played in three of the final four pre-season games, and was finally elevated to the “active roster” for the Panthers game.

Then Gotsis helped the Broncos defensive line control star Carolina quarterback Cam Newton to give Denver a winning start.

Fox Sport’s Laurie Horesh, Melanie Dinjaski and Patrick Stack are joined by Aussie free agent Tom Hackett for this week’s Hard Count, covering a drama filled week one in the NFL.

On Monday morning against Indianapolis, Gotsis gets another chance to up his minutes, and “show them what I can do”.

What Gotsis can do is smash offensive linemen, and hunt down ball runners and quarterbacks. In the practice game against LA he was credited with two “quarterback hurries”, a solid indication he’s up to NFL speed despite his long lay-off.

Adam Gotsis signs his contract with the Broncos.

The knee injury, an ACL tear, could have ended his dreams, given it came in the year when all the scouts were playing close attention to every college player in the US.

But Gotsis, who starred at leading football school Georgia Tech, never fretted.

The days are long for Gotsis and the other rookies, and the work doesn’t end when he gets home.

“You bring home your work, and you go over the notes and film on the iPad. It’s a game where whatever you put in, you are going to help yourself get more out of,” he said.

It’s a work ethic borne out of a long journey for the big kid who played Aussie rules and then “gridiron” in the Victorian league.

“It’s pretty crazy. Now I am actually in the NFL, it’s like ‘damn, this happened’,” he said.

Originally published as NFL team Denver Broncos put faith in Aussie Adam Gotsis