Colin Kaepernick: 13 Things You Should Know About The NFL Star [PHOTOS]

He is 49er's rock of a quarterback, their fierce go-to man, and despite the controversies he's faced since he's gone pro, he's the reason why women watch the National Football League games on television. (Ladies, admit it, we won't judge.)

Just who is Colin Kaepernick?

There are things that you may not even know about your ultimate sports hero or crush - but don't worry, we're here to enlighten you.

1. Colin owes the fame and success in his football career to Alex Smith's injury. Following that incident, he became a full-time starter and eventually led the San Francisco 49ers to their first Super Bowl since 1994.

2. After being drafted by the 49ers, he started supporting Camp Taylor - a youth programme offering children with heart disease 'calming surroundings away from the daily challenges that life-threatening heart disease can bring.'

3. He has multiple tattoos on his arms, back and chest area where many of them contain Biblical verses - he is a Christian, although he was a baptised Methodist and confirmed Lutheran.

4. It should come to no surprise that the infamous Colin has his own Internet meme. How did he contribute to pop culture? Why, by #Kaepernicking of course. Jersey #7 had a habit of kissing his tattoos after scoring a touchdown - and it all snowballed from there.

5. He is a certified shoe addict. He has a massive collection of shoes. The photo below was taken a while back. Who knows how large his collection has become?

6. Kap stars in the new NFL Madden video game - Madden 25: Summer Camp - where the game explains how his rivalry with Seattle Seahawks' Quarterback began.

See their new Madden commercial here:

7. To Colin, a man's best friend isn't a dog - but a land-dwelling reptile. He has a pet tortoise named Sammy, which he had since he was 10 years old.

8. Colin is adopted by Teresa and Rick Kaepernick, who lost their two boys due to a congenital heart failure. He also has two other siblings.

9. In 2009, Colin got drafted for the Chicago Cubs, but turned it down to pursue his career in American football.

10. He's threw the first pitch at a San Francisco Giants game a couple of months ago - his first time in 7 years. "87 on the first pitch .... Not too bad next year I'm goin to spring training to get ready! #sfgiants" he captioned the Instagram photo below. Maybe he'll continue playing for the SF Giants then.

11. Believe it or not, Kap had a negative running yardage as a high school quarterback. He said it himself at the GQ interview because he looked like a 'fragile emu.' "Yes, I was fast. Yes, my coaches knew I was fast. But we had no backup QB. So they told me not to run."

12. Colin is not all brawn and no intellect - in fact, he graduated high school with a 4.1 GPA. GQ got in touch with Kap's pre-Calculus teacher and said that he was 'obsessed with problem solving.' Even with a near perfect score, he'd only be interested in what he had done wrong - manifesting his desire to learn and not just get good grades.

13. His success is a premonition of some sort when he was a child. "I hope to go to a good college in football, then go to the pros and play on the niners or the packers even if they aren't good in seven years." I guess you could call it voyeurism.