Adam Gotsis is an articulate 195cm-tall, 127kg beast who grew up playing Aussie rules in Melbourne's eastern suburbs and in recent years showed a talent for terrorising US college quarterbacks.
Over the next week the 23-year-old will be pinched, prodded, measured and quizzed by coaches, scouts and doctors from the NFL's 32 teams at the pre-Draft combine in Indianapolis.
Gotsis, the rampaging defensive tackle who impressed for four seasons at Georgia Tech, will attend the most important job interview of his life just three months after tearing the ACL ligament in his left knee.
"I'm sure a lot of them think I'm just this kid from Australia who hasn't had much exposure to the sport, but hopefully I can turn a few heads," Gotsis told AAP on Monday.
Gotsis won't be the only Aussie at the pre-NFL Draft combine, with star University of Utah punter Tom Hackett, Sam Houston State University punter Lachlan Edwards and University of Maryland's record-breaking goal kicker Brad Craddock among a select group of 300 elite US college prospects invited to the event.
An impressive showing in Indianapolis will boost their hopes of being drafted at the April 28 Draft, or picked up as a free agent soon after.
Hackett, from Melbourne, made college football history in December when he won consecutive Ray Guy Awards, the annual prize handed out to the best college punter in the US.
Edwards' rise is almost as impressive, attracting inquisitive NFL scouts after booting his way to national prominence while playing for small conference Sam Houston State University.
Just like the three other NFL Combine-bound Aussies, Edwards, who played for the North Ballarat Roosters in the VFL, grew up booting a Sherrin.
Craddock, from Adelaide, had his promising Aussie rules future derailed by injury as a teenager when he broke his arm three consecutive years.
"I went from playing at a pretty good junior level at West Adelaide to not a very good junior level so I thought I'd give it a crack at something else and here I am," Craddock said.
He scored a scholarship at the University of Maryland as a punter, but when called on to kick goals he was a natural and in 2014 was named winner of the Lou Groza Award - for college football's top kicker.
Gotsis has undergone intensive rehab on his knee and, while he has just started jogging again, will skip the running and lifting drills at the combine.
NFL team doctors will undertake physical examinations of all players, while Gotsis expects them to take MRIs of his knee.
He is out to impress at the face-to-face meetings with NFL coaches and representatives.
"It is a tough situation for me because I can't go out and compete," Gotsis said.
"I have to be better at other things like when I sit down with a coach and explain defence, explain my story, let them see my passion for the game and how I handle myself under pressure."
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