The path to the National Football League, like most sports is incredibly hard and some are not able to reach their goals. But Oakville-born player Michael Hoecht has exceeded all expectations, and has flourished in his four year long NFL career.
Hoecht has played for the Los Angeles Rams since 2021 and has played every game for the team since his rookie season. The linebacker has 92 tackles and 75 total tackles in his NFL career - and counting.
Now, he and the Rams are preparing for their wild card game next Monday night (Jan. 13) as the NFL post-season begins, and the Rams are one of 12 teams with a chance of making to the Super Bowl next month.
Hoecht has had an impressive run thus far. But his journey to the NFL is a long road that has luckily gotten him to where he is now.
Born to two Canadian parents (with his dad being from Toronto and his mom being from Ottawa), Hoecht was born in Oakville and lived there until he was four years old.
His family then moved to Dayton, Ohio where Michael spent the majority of his childhood and upbringing, but he often comes back to the GTA to visit family as he still has plenty of family members that still live in Toronto.
Hoecht's introduction into football began when he was in second grade while on a school basketball team.
While going up for a layup in the middle of a game, Michael knocked four kids down while in the process of his shot and one dad went up to his dad with what looked to be rage in his eyes.
Michael's dad feared the worse as this man walked up to him and the man told Michael's dad that he was the local peewee football coach and wanted Michael to be on the team.
Once Michael began playing football that year, the sport has always been his "number one."
Years went by and Michael then went to Oakwood High School in Dayton, although a small school, Michael wanted to use his skills on the field in order to help get him into a good college.
"I was going to use football to help get me into the best school I can," said Hoecht. "I figured I would go do this thing that I love for four more years in college and come out with a good degree."
Hoecht achieved that goal by going to Brown university, playing football at the school and getting a degree in business entrepreneurship.
Hoecht originally came to Brown as a pre-med student but after one biology class and one entrepreneurship class he realized that he wanted to go the business route.
With Hoecht going to Brown, he was not able to get a full scholarship to the university because Ivy League schools do not give out athletic scholarships like other big sports schools do.
So Michael had to pay his entire college tuition without any scholarship help from his athletic ability.
Though that was tough for Michael and may not seem fair as most other NFL players get their schooling paid for from scholarships, Hoecht is still grateful for his time at Brown.
"Even though I did end up having to pay for school, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because it made me who I am today."
After spending four years with Brown, Michael decided to declare for the NFL Draft. There was just one problem: he declared for the 2020 NFL draft.
Once he declared for the draft in 2020, the world began to shut down in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft was moved to a virtual format, rather than have it in a giant venue it took place in Commissioner Roger Goodell's basement.
Along with the draft being moved to a virtual, the NFL cancelled its annual scouting combine and team scouts were not able to meet with players.
"There was definitely a point where people said to me that this might be a wrap [on my draft hopes.]"
But Michael wasn't going to let the shutdown ruin his chance at playing in the NFL, so he found a solution to getting teams to see his film.
He went to a public park with a couple of his roommates and Michael recorded his 40-yard-dash and a few other NFL combine events on an iPhone and edited all of the videos together on iMovie.
"I sat in my senior year of college house just editing in iMovie all of my [combine] events like my 40-yard-dash time and my three cone time anything else that I did. After that I sent the video to any scouts eyeballs that I could."
Michael believes that his tape was crucial to his NFL career.: "I honestly think because of [my tape] I might not have been able to be on the [Rams]."
Even with Michael's tape, he went undrafted on the 2020 Draft. But that wasn't the end: once teams were able to sign undrafted players. the Rams signed Michael to their practice squad.
He spent the entire 2020 season on the Rams practice squad and was signed to their main roster in 2021. In Hoecht's first season in 2021, he got to reach the pinnacle of the NFL and raise the Lombardi Trophy as a Super Bowl Champion with the Rams.
"By the time ball is kicked off you blink and the game is over and the confetti falls down and everybody starts hugging each other. It was a very rewarding experience."
Hoecht says that he still has his championship ring locked away safe and secure.
Michael and the Rams finished the regular season with a 10-7 record, just barely still making the playoffs after losing to the Seattle Seahawks this past Sunday.
But that's all in the past. Now, he and the Rams are looking to make another deep run and win the Super Bowl in February.