Falcons' Paul Worrilow wonders about the woman he saved

He's a well-known Atlanta Falcons player, but Paul Worrilow is proudest of another accomplishment.

ATLANTA -- Paul Worrilow is a well-known face on the Atlanta Falcons football team. He's the middle linebacker, the captain of the defense, and the team leader in tackles. But it hasn't always been that way.

"I knew I wanted to play division one football," he told 11Alive's David Wilkinson.

Despite being the Delaware High School Defensive Player of the Year, he didn't receive an offer to play college football. After a year at a community college, Worrilow returned home and walked-on for his hometown team - division one-double-A power: the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens.

"That's where I always saw myself going out of high school. If they had offered me I would have gone to Delaware, be the in-state kid, get to stay at home. My mom is a teacher there -- it just all felt right. I don't want to say I had a chip on my shoulder, but I went in there feeling I had a lot to prove to those guys," he said.

He went on to earn a scholarship, and he was named All-American his senior season. But, against the odds, it was off the field where he had the biggest impact.

"We put together a bone drive with Be The Match Foundation, and the goal of that is to educate and get as many people to join with a swab of the cheek with the possibility of matching a patient with blood cancer where you have the potential to save their life," Worrilow said.

It's a one in 500 chance of making match. He was the one.

"Just a phone call I got one morning, they told me I matched a 22-year-old woman with leukemia," he said. "I was excited. That's what you sign up for -- you sign up in hopes that you can match somebody and have that kind of effect."

The woman chose to remain anonymous. He's never met her, but he hopes she's tackling life the same way he is.

"I just like to think I did all I can. This experience I've tried to do as much as i could in the off-season spreading the word. My whole family has joined. I have friends that have joined," he said.

After not being chosen in the 2013 draft, Worrilow signed with the Falcons. He's now a tackling machine.

When asked if he ever looks back to see how far he's come, how he's proved the doubters wrong, Worrilow said there's no time.

"It's funny, like, my friends that's how they look at it. When you're in that position, it's moving so fast you feel the pressure to get better to keep performing. You don't really have that moment," he said.

His whole life, he's been underestimated, not recruited, not drafted. For Paul Worrilow, it's never easy.

"I've never really had things handed to me. I've always kind of had to scratch and claw my way to things," he said.