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Igor Olshansky was just 15 but already a behemoth at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds.
A high school football coach spotted him in the stands, watching a sport he was still learning eight years after emigrating from Ukraine.
``I put him up against a wall and spoke for 30 minutes,'' Vince Tringali recalled. ``I told him, 'You're crazy kid. You have to get out there. If you keep growing, you'll be worth a lot of money.'''
That prediction could soon prove true: Olshansky has parlayed his rare combination of strength, size and speed to shoot up the draft board in recent weeks, becoming a possible first-round sleeper in this weekend's NFL draft.
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Olshansky would be the first player born in the former Soviet Union in the NFL.
It's been a rapid ascension for a player who just a few years ago didn't even know there were 11 players a side in football.
``I didn't know anything about football,'' said Olshansky, who played in college at Oregon. ``I'd seen it, but I didn't understand what I was watching. It looked kind of crazy.''
A high school football coach spotted him in the stands, watching a sport he was still learning eight years after emigrating from Ukraine.
``I put him up against a wall and spoke for 30 minutes,'' Vince Tringali recalled. ``I told him, 'You're crazy kid. You have to get out there. If you keep growing, you'll be worth a lot of money.'''
That prediction could soon prove true: Olshansky has parlayed his rare combination of strength, size and speed to shoot up the draft board in recent weeks, becoming a possible first-round sleeper in this weekend's NFL draft.
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Olshansky would be the first player born in the former Soviet Union in the NFL.
It's been a rapid ascension for a player who just a few years ago didn't even know there were 11 players a side in football.
``I didn't know anything about football,'' said Olshansky, who played in college at Oregon. ``I'd seen it, but I didn't understand what I was watching. It looked kind of crazy.''
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