Derrick Willies runs after making a catch from Baker Mayfield. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio -- Rod Storch was sitting in a car on Sunday, listening on the radio when Derrick Willies caught a pass thrown by a scrambling Baker Mayfield in overtime and ran it to the Ravens' 43-yard line. It was the play that rescued the Browns from the shadow of their own endzone and helped set up their second win of the season.

Storch was sitting in Willies' car, actually, in Cleveland, packed full of Willies' things. He was going to meet him after the game. He had to park on one of the brick roads that surround Erie Street Cemetery near Progressive Field because, after a 21-hour drive from Canyon Lake, Texas, it was the closest place he could find to park on a gameday in Cleveland.

Storch's nephew, Nick Gieselman, was in his kitchen in Rock Island, Illinois, streaming the game. A huge Baker Mayfield fan, Gieselman started screaming when he realized it was Willies on the receiving end of the throw. He screamed for his wife, Cassie, to come into the kitchen. Nick, Cassie and their six-year-old son, Kaesen, started high-fiving.

Nick was in that same kitchen six years earlier when he got a phone call from Storch. There was a kid, Storch said, that he had coached in track a few years ago in Iowa. The kid had been living with his aunt and uncle in Burlington, but he needed a new place to live -- and he needed it now. The kid's name was Derrick.

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'He just didn't have a lot of guidance'

Storch first came across Willies at Burlington High School. He was playing freshman football and Storch, the varsity football and track coach. thought Willies needed to run track.

He wasn't wrong. Willies would eventually go on to win Illinois state championships in the 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and 300-meter dash.

Willies moved around a lot as a kid, shuttling between his mother and father, before he landed in Burlington with his aunt and uncle. His father was in the military for 16 years and Willies lived in California and Las Vegas, among other places.

He declined to elaborate on details of his life growing up. He called his mother a great mom, saying she did everything she could for him. She is still in his life and he still has a relationship with her. He was in California with his siblings and mother for the NFL draft. He speaks with his mother regularly.

By the time he reached high school, he was a raw, physically gifted athlete.

"At the time I thought I was really nice because I was better than everyone," Willies said, "but looking back on the film, I was rough."

"He just didn't have a lot of guidance," Storch said.

That's what Storch gave him as a coach during his freshman and sophomore years in track. Storch left Burlington after that and moved to Texas.

It wasn't long, though, before Willies' called him. His living situation had changed. He didn't know where to go. Moving him to Texas was one option. Storch had another option in mind, too, one that wouldn't be as drastic a move for the high school junior.

That option was Nick and Cassie.

At the time, it was just them and Nick's daughter, Payzleigh, who was there every other weekend. Nick had a good job. They had room.

Except Cassie was expecting -- soon. Very soon. It was a big ask.

Nick explained the situation to Cassie and she didn't hesitate. Derrick would come and live with them.

Rod put the wheels in motion and, less than a week later, Nick and Cassie met Derrick for the first time at a place called Pizza Ranch in Muscatine, Iowa. Rod's mother and Nick's brother had picked Derrick up and driven him there. They ate pizza, of course. Then Nick, Cassie and Derrick drove back to Rock Island.

"I remember looking in the rearview mirror and seeing this scrawny, 6-foot-4, scared kid in the back of my car," Nick said. "He's putting a lot of faith in us."

It all happened so fast, they didn't even have a bed for Derrick. They were working on it, but for now, they told him he could sleep on the couch. Instead, he spent his first night with the Gieselmans sleeping on their basement floor.

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'Derrick was there from Day One'

A week after he arrived at his new home, Willies was sitting in a hospital room with Nick, Cassie, and Cassie's mother. Oh, and Kaesen -- he was born January 25, a few days after Willies had shown up. Cassie's mother had brought Derrick to the hospital to meet Kaesen. They ordered a pizza.

Adding a new baby to a family is stressful enough. Adding a teenager you barely know -- that just ratchets things up. Except Cassie believes it was vital to Derrick fitting in.

"We were all just there with this brand new baby, which is a brand new beginning," she said, "and Derrick was a part of that from Day One."

There was a learning curve for everyone. What rules did Nick and Cassie need to make? Should they make Derrick get a job? No, Nick's parents never made him get a job when he was playing sports in high school.

Before long, Cassie was running track spikes and homework to the school when Derrick forgot them. She was driving him to school dances and going to track meets and football games.

Derrick didn't have much when he came to live with them. They had to buy him a winter coat. He started filling out, putting on 15 pounds. They had to buy him new clothes. Turns out that isn't easy for a kid who is 6-foot-4.

The bed finally showed up, at least. He got his own room.

Derrick, meanwhile, was learning to help with the baby. One of the benefits of having a new teenager around is having a babysitter at the ready. Derrick changed diapers and fed him. Kaesen laid on his chest while Derrick scrolled through his phone.

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(Photo courtesy of the Gieselman family)

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"It was cool to learn how it is to be a dad because I didn't have that growing up," he said.

Derrick was fitting in, but there was one other thing the family had to do. Track season was looming. Football season wasn't far off. It wasn't enough for Willies to live in Rock Island to be allowed to participate. Nick and Cassie had to take legal guardianship of him to get him on the track and on the field.

Derrick's mother was cooperative. Derrick and Nick went to the courthouse together. For as significant as it all was, there wasn't much fanfare.

"I gave him a hug (after)," Nick said, "and said it's time to start playing."

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Update: Following the publication of this story, Willies' mother, Mandie, reached out to cleveland.com with additional details. Mandie clarified that she signed a temporary guardianship over to the Gieselman family and did not give up custody of Derrick.

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'The Mercenary'

Bryan Stortz coached Willies in football during his senior season at Rock Island. Before the team's first practice, he witnessed Willies, in full pads and flat-footed, perform a backflip for his friends.

Stortz has coached Division I kids. He had even coached NFL guys. He had never seen a kid do some of the fast twitch things Willies could do. It looked easy.

He excelled at receiver in Stortz's run-heavy offense.

"They had three kids covering him and he still goes up and finds a way to make a play," Stortz said.

Stortz used him at free safety, too, one of the two most important positions in his defense. He had the ability to shut down the middle of the field.

When you play high school football in Iowa, the Hawkeyes have pull. It's akin to how kids in Ohio are drawn to Columbus. Willies couldn't resist that lure. He committed early. It didn't waver after he ended up at Rock Island.

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Nick, Payzleigh, Willies, Kaesen (on shoulders), Cassie and Nicala. (Photo courtesy of the Gieselman family)

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He redshirted in 2013 and had a strong spring game for the Hawkeyes, but ultimately played just five games in 2014, registering four catches. He announced in the middle of that season he was leaving the program.

, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reported that Willies missed the Hawkeyes' October 11 game that season due to injury. He dressed the next week, according to Morehouse, but did not play.

Nick wasn't a fan of the decision to leave, but one thing about Derrick is he always seemed to have a plan -- and an independent streak. He wanted to play in the NFL and when things went south at Iowa, his plan changed.

Nick implored him to at least try going the junior college route, and Derrick listened.

He chose Trinity Valley Community College, close to where Storch was living. Then-head coach Brad Smiley ran the type of wide open offense he was looking for.

Storch rented a trailer and drove up from Texas to pack up Derrick and his possessions and they drove back to Canyon Lake. He lived with Storch until he settled in on campus.

It turns out Smiley, now the offensive coordinator at Northwestern State, needed Willies skillset and Willies needed Smiley's system.

Smiley had Jerod Evans, who would eventually land at Virginia Tech, at quarterback. With those two leading the way, Trinity Valley averaged 439.9 yards of passing offense.

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Smiley called Willies The Mercenary.

"He was in there to make plays, graduate and go back to Division I," he said.

Willies was good academically and stayed after practice to run routes. His work on the field earned him looks from programs like TCU and Oklahoma. His host on his visit to Oklahoma was Mayfield.

"(Mayfield) still gives me shit because I didn't go there with him," Willies said.

He chose another wide open offense instead: Texas Tech's.

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Derrick Willies runs with the ball. (Brody Schmidt, Associated Press)

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Things didn't work out for him once he arrived. He appeared in 15 games in two seasons. He didn't finish his final season. He earned his degree in human sciences and started filling out job applications for sales positions.

An agent suggested he might still have an NFL shot and he was allowed to participate in Tech's pro day but still went undrafted, even though he ran a 40-time he simply described as "fast."

It didn't take long for he Browns and GM John Dorsey to come calling. Dorsey isn't one to pass on big and fast, even if it comes with question marks. Willies ultimately survived and made the 53-man roster out of training camp.

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'They taught me what family was'

The Gieselman's first Christmas with Derrick and Kaesen in the house was a big one. It needed the perfect tree. Nick and Derrick went to the tree farm and started looking. Finally, Derrick got tired of looking and told Nick to go back to the car. "I've got this," he told him.

"He comes back with probably the most perfect tree I've ever seen," Nick said.

They did the typical first Christmas stuff. They took photos while they decorated. It was the perfect tree.

Then Derrick called Nick at work about a week before Christmas. The tree had turned brown. The needles were falling off. It was dead.

The two drove out to the middle of nowhere because that's the only place you can find a tree a week before Christmas. They came to a tree farm that wasn't even a tree farm anymore -- but the guy that owned the place would still sell you one of the unkempt trees if you cut it down. They managed to cut off the top half of a tree and plopped it on top of Nick's Altima. Nick called it a Christmas bush. That was their first Christmas together.

A family never forgets stories like that.

Nick remembers sitting in Kirk Ferentz's office feeding Kaesen while Ferentz met with Derrick. He remembers Lincoln Riley sitting in the family living room after Derrick left Iowa. He admits Derrick's decisions to leave Iowa and to choose Tech over Oklahoma tried their relationship.

A family sticks together through that, though.

Shortly after Derrick signed with the Browns, Nick, Cassie and the kids came to visit. They took a photo in front of the Jim Brown statue. Cassie called it a first day of school photo.

This family never had that for Derrick.

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(L-R) Cassie, Nicala, Willies, Joyci and Kaesen in May. (Photo courtesy of the Gieselman family)

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Derrick met Joyci for the first time. She's eight months old now and football had kept him away.

There's also Nicala, who was born shortly after Derrick left for Iowa.

As for Kaesen, he adores Derrick. When he started talking, it was about Derrick. He would mimic his football workouts. He can always find No. 84 on the kickoff coverage unit when the camera is panned wide before the play starts.

Derrick considers the kids among his siblings. They jump on him when he comes home, which he tries to do on holidays. They know he can lift them higher than anyone else.

When Derrick uses the word family, he's talking about them.

"They taught me what family was," he said.

It's not just Derrick.

"I never regretted saying yes," Cassie said of the night Storch called. "There's not a day that I can imagine where he wasn't with us."

Whatever happens with this NFL opportunity, there's a kitchen in Rock Island, Illinois if he needs to come home for a little while. There might be pizza. There will definitely be family.

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Update: Willies was ruled out for Sunday's game against the Chargers after breaking his collarbone in practice. He will be re-evaluated next week.

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-By Dan Labbe, cleveland.com

Contact: dlabbe@cleveland.com | On Twitter: @dan_labbe