Danny Watkins

Danny Watkins didn't grow up dreaming of playing pro football.Hockey was his sport, and firefighting was his first vocation.Now, the 26-year-old Canadian and former Baylor offensive tackle is trying to forge a career in cleats not skates or boots. Watkins is taking a first step toward that goal this week at the Senior Bowl along with other senior NFL prospects, most of whom have nursed that ambition for far longer."I just kind of stumbled into it," Watkins said. Then he adds, "It's a dream now."The NFL seemed an unlikely destination for a native of Kelowna, British Columbia, who has more experience as a firefighter (five years) than a football player (four) and played hockey and rugby in high school.He was attending Butte College near Sacramento, Calif., to study fire science, when someone suggested the 6-foot-4 and now 312-pounder should give football a try."After the first year, the college scouts started sniffing around and that's when I sat down with the coaches and they told me, '...

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