Aussie Jesse Williams has been picked by NFL club Seattle Seahawks He's only 22 but Aussie Jessie Williams is poised to sign a multi-million dollar deal to play American football after being selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL draft. Aussie Jesse Williams has been picked in the NFL draft by the Seattle Seahawks. HE may have been pick No.137 in the draft but Jesse Williams will enter the record books as the first indigenous Australian to sign with an NFL club. And it all started at a nondescript Brisbane field eight years ago when Williams, three weeks into his American football foray, asked his Bayside Ravens coaches to change position. "He was doing a good job in offence but he really wanted to play defence," Ravens coach Steve Box said last night. To wind him up, the head coach at the time, Paul Knight, said to Jesse, 'I don't think you're tough enough to play defence'. He was a shy, quietly spoken kid but there was this look in his eyes, like, 'You're going to challenge me?' He went out to prove a point. In his first game he got three sacks, he was absolutely fierce, and that's where the fuse was lit. Every time he has been challenged since then, whether it be state level, nationals, college in America or the NFL, Jesse has risen to meet it. Prime Minister Julia Gillard was among the well-wishers yesterday as Williams secured a place at the Seattle Seahawks.The 191cm, 147kg defensive tackle, who took up American football at 15 at the suggestion of friends, will have made his first $1 million at 22. Williams was expected to be a first-round pick but went in the fifth round, which means he will likely sign a four-year deal worth about $US2.5 million ($2.4 million), as opposed to about $US6 million of first-round picks. Recruiters hesitated to sign him just three months after knee surgery but Williams, scouted from the University of Alabama, can see the upside. "I waited a little longer than what I expected but I'm just happy to be with a good association and go to a good team," he said. Seahawks general manager John Schneider said Williams' physicality would be valuable. "He's really an intense, jump-off-the-ball, strong guy who really will fill a specific role for us," Schneider said. Ms Gillard tweeted a congratulatory message to Williams once he was confirmed as a Seahawk. While Williams' family lives in Brisbane, he was born on Thursday Island and his relatives from the Kuku Yalanji tribe live in far north Queensland, where there is no mobile phone reception. "The dream grew fairly quickly once I got a grasp of the sport and tried to pursue it," Williams said. Once I knew I was kind of good enough and made it to junior college, it started to not only be my dream, but also be a realistic goal. It's a great feeling to be able to reach that.