Orlando Franklin's journey to Super Bowl XLVIII

Many times during Super Bowl XLVIII, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning will stare down the NFLs top-ranked defence, with five of his linemen the only things separating the future Hall of Famerand his surgically fused neck from a high-speed collision.

Six-foot-seven, 320-pound Canadian Orlando Franklin is one of those large menwhowill protectManning fromthe onslaught of Seattle Seahawks pass rushers.At his size, Franklin can often shove aside defenders without trouble.

But the 26-year-old right tackles journey to the NFL has not been so easy.

Franklin was raised in the Scarborough areaof Toronto, spending part of his time there living in a community housing complex.With his single mom, Sylvia, working to pay the bills, Orlando spent much of his time with the other kids in the neighbourhood.

When he was nine, Franklin spotted some kids carrying football equipment.One of them was an older boy named Shawn Williams, who brought Franklin to the local Scarborough Thunder football team, where he would become a mainstay until leaving for the United States in his mid-teens.

Williams remembers Franklin as tall for his age, clumsy, awkward and cursed with thick-lensed glasses he was often teased about.

One time,the pair had to search extensively for the expensiveeyewear after Franklin lost a lens at a local pool .

"His glasseswould get banged around [playing football], so his lens would pop out at any given time, Williams chuckles.

"They drained [the pool]and they still couldnt find it, and they drained it again and they finally found it.It took almost two days for us to get this lens.

"He couldnt see for days He was walking around with one lens in the glasses and the other one out.

'Good kids'

The two becamefriends and would sometimes get into trouble together.

'We would get in trouble... Stealing cars, trying to be cool, stuff like that.-Shawn Williams, Orlando Franklin's childhood friend

We really had no money, says Williams.You would want to get food, talk to girls, so we would get in trouble. stealing cars, trying to be cool, stuff like that.

Charles Wiltshire, 54, who saw himself as a fatherfigure toFranklin and often looked after him and Williams, sayslocal kids often fall victim to the conditions of poverty.

"You realize theyre good kids, theyre not troubled kids.They dont want to steal, they dont want to rob, they dont want to sell drugs, but theyre left with no choice to survive.

In his early teens, Franklin was arrested for robbery andWiltshire says that he bailed him out, like he had for many other kids in the neighbourhood.

[My wife and I] were the type that if it involved drugs we would bail them out, if it involved weed we would be upset, if it involved guns we would have nothing to do with that, he says.

'The first one to make it'

I was in a real dark place, Franklin told the Toronto Sun before last week'sAFC championship game. I mean, the NFL? Hey, I didnt even know if Id ever graduate high school, let alone think Id ever make it to the NFL.

At the end of the day, I could not see where my future was or where I was at."

But thetrip to jail seemed to be the sobering lesson thatmotivatedFranklin.

His head coach with the Scarborough Thunder, Roberto Allen, says Franklin agreed to sign a contract with his mother saying that he would stay out of trouble.

Allen soon saw a change in Franklin's performance.

That last year when he played with us he was very focused, saysAllen.He grew, he wanted this.He kept saying to me, Im going to be the first one to make it.

For a big boy like that, hes pretty athletic. He can run downfield with running backs.Usually offensive linemen are blocking at the first level andsecond level, but he goes upto the third level hes running downfield blocking defensive backs.

With Franklin starting to turn things around at home, his mother went looking for work in Florida in hopes that shecould move there with him to increase his chances to advance in his football career.

"I owe so much to my mom," Franklin told the Toronto Sun.

When I said I wanted to move to Florida, she quit her job and moved down there a week later. You have a lot of parents who want to see their kids succeed, but you dont have a lot of people who pick up and relocate just to accommodate a 15- or 16-year-old kid.

Franklin ended up securing a spot at Atlantic Community High School in Delray Beach, Fla., and as a senior he attracted interest from the University of Miamifootball team.

'I can't take it'

Things didn't go smoothly at first in Miami.Wiltshire recalls how Franklin would call him when he was struggling to keep up with the Hurricanes.

I remember he called me from Miami and said Charlie Im quitting this thing, I cant take it no more, Im puking my guts out, theyre working me like a horse, and we have to keep up certain marks in order to go and play.'"Wiltshiresays.

But Franklin preservedand, after four years at Miami, where he was anAll-Atlantic Coast Conference second team honouree in his senior year, he graduated with a degree in psychology.

In 2011, Franklin was selected by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the NFL draft (46th overall).

Wiltshire was with Franklinin Scarborough during the draft and remembers how Franklinjumped in excitement when he received the call from formerBroncos quarterback (and now vice president) John Elway, one of his childhood idols, telling Franklin he'dbeen drafted.

Franklin still returns to the community, and has even showed up at a Scarborough Thunder practice to speak to the playersandsign memorabilia for auction.

No matter the result of the Super Bowlin New Jersey on Feb. 2, those who helped Franklin along the way will still be proud of the kid with the thickglasses.

My definition of achampion is not the one who won the race, but the one who tried hisbest to win therace,"saysWiltshire. And no matter what, hes still my champion because I know hes given his all.