Tennessee Titans rookie Jonathan "Tig" Willard played the part of hero Tuesday, rescuing a family and its dog from a burning car.

[+] EnlargeJonathan Willard
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
Titans rookie Jonathan Willard was in the right place at the right time Tuesday to help a family in distress.
The former Clemson linebacker was traveling from South Carolina to report to the Titans' training camp when he encountered the family in distress on Interstate 40 in Tennessee.

"I saw this car in front of me, and it had all kinds of black smoke coming out of it," Willard told TigerNet.com, which covers Clemson athletics. "I tried to speed up and get up next to the car to let them know the car was on fire."

TigerNet.com posted a photo of the burning car, engulfed in flames with thick black smoke billowing into the air.

Willard, who signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent, told the website he pulled beside the car and honked his horn to alert the female driver, who was in the car with three children and a dog, that her vehicle was in flames.

"When she pulled over, the car was really on fire at that point," Willard told TigerNet.com. "The driver, she acted like she was in some kind of daze or something. She told me that she didn't stop because she didn't think it was her car that was on fire. Another guy stopped, and we managed to get the kids and the dog out and get them to safety, and then I finally got the woman out."

Willard said the car "went up quick" and that he was happy he could get the family out of the car. He said it was fortunate he stopped to help as the scene might have ended tragically if he hadn't.

"I was thinking that I was just doing what everybody else would do, but there were cars just going past us and no one else was stopping, so I don't know if that is what would happen or not," he told the website.