Near the door of a dimly lit nightclub just outside Vancouver, the barrel-chested 20-year-old kept peppering the NFL player with questions.

What does it take to make it to the league? What advice can you give me? Do you really think I can make it, too?

This was five years ago, but NFL Network analyst Nate Burleson — an 11-year veteran receiver for the Detroit Lions at that point — remembers it like it was yesterday.

In retrospect, it’s funny. There was no way to know at the time that the college kid he was talking to, Nathan Shepherd, would eventually grow 2 more inches, gain nearly 50 pounds and become one of the best stories of the 2018 NFL draft. The defensive tackle from Ajax, Ontario, located about 30 miles northeast of Toronto, blossomed into a third-round pick of the New York Jets.

View photos The Jets used a third-round draft selection on defensive lineman Nathan Shepherd, who has quite the long-shot story in how he made it to the league. (AP) More

All Burleson knew was that Shepherd, who was currently working as a security guard for Burleson and his friends that night, was out of football for some reason and doubting his future in the game, big time.

“You could see it in his body language, shoulders slumped — the self-doubt all athletes go through at some point,” Burleson recalled to Yahoo Sports this week. “… We’ve all fallen in love with this woman called football, and she is fickle; sometimes she’ll hurt your feelings. But you can’t leave her, and you can’t quit her.”

Burleson, who sensed sincerity and humility in Shepherd, decided to speak some words of faith toward the young man.

“You’re gonna play in the NFL one day,” Burleson told him. “You seem like a great guy. Go for it. Don’t stop.”

Shepherd’s eyes widened; the kid was starting to believe again. If an 11-year veteran like Burleson thought he could do it …

“The game always finds those that love it,” Burleson reiterated. “And love will find somebody that’s passionate about them.”

Little money and no football

Though Burleson was hardly the only one to give Shepherd an assist along the way — a journey like this doesn’t happen without lots of help — Shepherd never forgot Burleson’s message of hope, which came months after Shepherd was forced to leave his Canadian college football team due to financial hardships.

“He didn’t know my situation, he didn’t know I was in between schools,” Shepherd said. “It was great affirmation because here’s a guy who doesn’t know me, who’s on a leisurely trip with his friends, relaxing, and he took time out of his day to talk football with someone he’s never met before.

“I wanted to play football … it was just a matter of where and finding the means of how. You’ve got to put your foot down [and believe], even in the dark.”

For Shepherd, a lightly recruited high school linebacker who started nine games as a 250-pound defensive tackle during his redshirt freshman season at Simon Fraser University (B.C.), the darkness began in 2013, when he found himself unable to afford his partial tuition anymore at the Canadian college, which is known more for its business program than its football.

View photos Nate Burleson, announcing a selection in last month’s draft, played an indirect role in one rookie’s career. (AP) More

Suddenly forced to drop out and support himself, Shepherd took a variety of jobs in British Columbia. He worked in a plant nursery, did some electrical construction and he also bounced in his free time at Pierre’s Champagne Lounge, where he had his encounter with Burleson. He eventually moved back home to the Toronto area, where he worked a variety of jobs, including one where he hauled large stacks of beer and soda boxes in a printing factory. The pay wasn’t great, but it paid the rent.

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