Kevin Pierre-Louis has been feared on a football field ever since he first put pads on in Pop Warner, but the fourth-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks has a softer side off the field and has stayed humble despite reaching a goal most rarely achieve.

Pierre-Louis said that he works even harder since being drafted, as he doesn't want to prove the Seahakws wrong for believing in him.

"I've seen so many examples of the right things to do, and I just want to be that person for someone else," said Pierre-Louis. The extremely gifted linebacker's ego hasn't grown out of control even though his play has shown what a bright star he was even at a young age.

"My first impression of him the first time I saw him in a Pop Warner football game was they should probably get him off the field before he kills someone on the other team," said Dan Gouin, Pierre-Louis' former high school football coach. Gouin said Pierre-Louis was a really shy kid when he first met him, but he never needed attention, and in many ways that's what made him so special. He attended King Low Heywood Thomas in Stamford, Conn., and despite his incredible play in high school always wanted the spotlight on his teammates.

Pierre-Louis had a strong bond with his high school coach and has seen first-hand the talented players he had helped in the years before. The first school to recruit him was Boston College, and it wasn't until he attended their football camp that he realized he could play at the next level.

Pierre-Louis decided to attend Boston College where he would start all four seasons at linebacker for the Eagles. "I always knew football was going to end one day, and going to a school like King and having the father that I had who always emphasized education, I had singled my college decisions down to Stanford and Boston College," said Pierre-Louis.

The young recruited linebacker was always observant, and while he may not have always been the loudest he took everything in. While most college kids are focused on where the parties are, Pierre-Louis was focused on his future.

As a freshman linebacker, Pierre-Louis finished second on the team in tackles with 93, second only to then-future 2013 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Luke Kuechly. Pierre-Louis said he felt blessed to play with a player like Kuechly and that he always paid attention to how hard he worked. The young Eagles linebacker was very successful his first season on the collegiate level, and thanked his high school coach for his early success, as he said he helped prepare him both mentally and physically to play at the next level.

Pierre-Louis is not shocked at all by how much attention and accolades his former teammate has gotten, as he has seen first-hand how hard the Panthers' linebacker worked in college. Pierre-Louis has consistently pushed himself to be a hard worker, and Kuechly only helped bring out more energy in him as they pushed each other on the field.

"That was something that was always consistently in my mind, as I played each game I tried to get more tackles than him," said Pierre-Louis. "I tried to beat a run better than him, but at the same time I listened so that I could learn something from him."

The Seahawks face the Panthers this Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs, and while Kuechly and Pierre-Louis are friends off the field, they know this weekend is business. "Something that's reiterated between players a lot in the league is this game goes so much further than football. In the NFL you never know what's going to happen and the bond that we create is so strong," said Pierre-Louis. "But when that whistle blows the friendships don't matter. When it comes to this weekend when those whistles blow, I don't know the guy, he wears a different jersey, he's trying to take something away from my brothers and my team."

Through his four years at Boston College, Pierre-Louis recorded 360 tackles with 23 tackles for a loss. The gifted Eagles linebacker originally wanted to go to the Marines fresh out of college, but after talking with his family and father he decided football was something that was reachable. The Seahawks selected him with the 132nd pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, but for Pierre-Louis the process was much more nerve-racking.

"As the names keeping going down there is still a part of doubt that crosses your mind," said Pierre-Louis. "Maybe I'll get picked up somewhere, and the next thing you know your phone starts ringing." He didn't believe it at first when he saw a 425 area code and had even joked with his friends prior to the draft that there was no chance Seattle would select him.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider was on the line with Pierre-Louis and asked him if he wanted to be a Seahawk, and without any hesitation, he responded, "Yes, of course." The next day Pierre-Louis would fly from JFK to Seattle to join one of the most dominant organizations in recent football history.

After arriving in Seattle one thing was clear, and that was that "Pete Carroll is the man," said Pierre-Louis. "He gives us everything. Once you step on that field you have no excuse but to give it your all." The Seahawks linebacker said his head coach gets the most out of his players, and doesn't always pick the best players on the board but the players he knows he can motivate regardless of what round they are selected in.

In six seasons since becoming the head coach of the Seahawks, Carroll has won a Super Bowl and posted a record of 60-36, making the postseason every year but one.

Pierre-Louis, who is listed at 6-foot, 236 pounds, has the nickname peanut amongst his team, and only in the NFL could a guy of his stature get such a nickname. "I was in between K.J. Wright, who is about 6-foot-4, almost 250 pounds, and on the other side Bruce Irvin, who is also about 6-foot-3, about 255 pounds, and then you see me there and I'm about 6-foot, closer to 230 pounds at the time, and coach goes, 'Hey look at little peanut.'"

While Pierre-Louis may not be as big as other linebackers on his team or in the NFL, he clearly doesn't lack the heart or hard-working attitude to succeed at the highest level.

The Seahawks second-year linebacker was unable to play last weekend in the Wild Card round against the Minnesota Vikings because he tweaked his knee earlier in practice during the week. "I would have been able to play, but they were more worried about my health instead of me playing and potentially injuring myself more," he said.

Seattle's defense will have its hands full on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers and face arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the game in Cam Newton. "You have to be on your 'A' game in all aspects of your game," said Pierre-Louis. "Cam is just a very versatile quarterback, as he is big, fast and can throw."

The Seahawks defense ranked second in the league in yards allowed this regular season, and players like Wright and Bobby Wagner have been key to their success. Wright leads the Seahawks defense with 116 total tackles, and both can create havoc on opposing offenses.

Both Wagner and Wright have been mentors to Pierre-Louis, as he says they are always open for questions and that the Seahawks all know they are driving towards one goal together. "If someone else's number is called upon for whatever reason they are expected to step in, and have no drop-off in talent," said the Seahawks linebacker.

Seattle has mottos that force players to motivate themselves, and make sure they leave every ounce of energy out on the field. The Seahawks' mottos of "leave no doubt" and "film never lies" hold players to an accountability that has visibly turned this team into a model franchise in the NFL.

The Seahawks have made back-to-back Super Bowls and are fighting an uphill battle traveling on the road this post-season as the sixth seed in the NFC. While Pierre-Louis and the Seahawks' attention is unquestionably focused on Sunday's playoff matchup against Carolina, the Seahawks linebacker also has an interesting life off the gridiron.

"I have always loved animals since I was a little kid," said Pierre-Louis. "I was always the kid that could go to a house, and a dog or whatever animal would just come up to me, and the owner would say the animal never does that with anyone." The Seattle linebacker considers himself a reptile guy, and has owned two snakes, a tortoise and a tarantula. He has recently helped out at Seattle Humane and has adopted two kittens that he has named Cash and Carly. Pierre-Louis wants to bring awareness to helping animals and uses his Twitter and Instagram account to hopefully influence people to help animals in the Seattle community.

The Seahawks linebacker is consistently working to better himself as a player but has told himself he can always make time to learn something new. Pierre-Louis said he always wanted to learn to cook but thought it would be too difficult and decided to try baking. "I am going to find one day a week and I'm going to do everything from scratch," said Pierre-Louis.

The 24-year-old out of Norwalk, Conn., has continued to stay humble and work hard after achieving a dream most rarely accomplish, but that hasn't stopped him from moving forward. The Seahawks' second-year linebacker has 31 combined tackles in two seasons and played his best game against Carolina earlier in the year with 11 tackles and a pass defended. While Pierre-Louis has continued to excel on the field at each level he has played at, he has stayed focused on his future at the same time.

Pierre-Louis graduated from Boston College with a degree in marketing and is already working toward his future during the offseason. The linebacker said he has joined a program through the NFL in which he will go down to the University of Miami this offseason. "I'm starting my MBA this offseason," responded Pierre-Louis when asked about his future plans. "It's an executive MBA program that I am starting this February."

Pierre-Louis has been a Rambler, a Viking, an Eagle, and a Seahawk throughout his football career, but no matter where he has been he has continued to work hard and stay humble and is only at the beginning of his journey with plenty left to accomplish.