Dwight Freeney has a chance to win his second Super Bowl title Sunday night in three tries. But until he reached high school, such an NFL dream was nonexistent. Freeney's focus was on making it to a professional soccer pitch. During his freshman year at Bloomfield High School (Connecticut), he played goalkeeper for the fútbol team.

Freeney thanks his high school football coach for converting him to the gridiron:

"If if wasn't for Jack Cochran, I wouldn't be playing football," Freeney says. "He pulled me off of a soccer field after my freshman year. I got 30 kicks at me a game, 40 kicks at me a game. I would save 35, but the score still be 5-0. We had no defense, absolutely nothing. He said, 'Why don't you give this other football a chance?' I did. And he pushed me. And here I am today."

Freeney became a star defensive lineman at Bloomfield and earned a scholarship to play football at Syracuse. He was the No. 11 pick in the 2002 draft and has made seven Pro Bowls in his 15-year career.

Freeney's soccer days are long over.

"If it's not on FIFA Soccer the video game, I don't play much soccer," he says.

"I couldn't kick, so I had to throw it. That was probably my problem."

On Sunday, Freeney's job will be to tackle...the quarterback, not opposing strikers.

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