How the NFL Academy is developing the next generation of UK American football stars

As the NFL regular season draws to an end and moves into the playoffs, 2019 will go down as a particularly memorable year for the league in the UK.

In addition to seeing the state-of-the-art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium host matches for the first time, it also witnessed the establishment of the NFL Academy, which opened its doors in September after holding trials during the summer.

While the successful outings at Spurs’ dual-purpose home marked a significant step closer to a London-based Franchise, it is the Academy that could prove most significant for the long-term development of the sport in the UK.

Based at Barnet and Southgate College in North London, the institution is the first of its kind outside the United States, providing student athletes between the ages of 16 and 18 with a pathway to higher education by replicating the conditions found in high schools across the pond.

It is not the first time in recent years that the NFL has sought to provide greater opportunities to those outside the US, with introduction of the International Player Pathway programme in 2017 contributing to the emergence of players such as Carolina Panthers defensive lineman Efe Obada.

However, there is a strong feeling that the league’s latest initiative represents an even greater step forward.

“Most people involved in American Football in this country and across Europe have felt there needs to be more opportunities to access the game at a younger age,” NFL UK’s Head of Player Development Will Bryce tells Mirror Sport.

“In the cases of International Player Pathway and Efe, we’ve had to take the hard way – it’s really difficult to get to NFL when you’re 21-22 and can’t go to college.

“The earlier a kid can get involved in the sport to learn and develop, then the more opportunities there will be in the game.”

Despite previously forging successful rugby careers, the likes of Christian Wade, Alex Gray and Christian Scotland-Williamson have all discovered how difficult it is to succeed in the NFL after making late transitions to the sport.

While the Academy is set to provide younger athletes with a solid football IQ and skillset, the road to the highest level remains a difficult one. The most recent data published by the NCAA in April estimated that only 1.6% of college football players make it to NFL and Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice believes the challenges start before higher education.

“In high school, you’re always going to have obstacles that are going to want to take you off the path,” the San Francisco 49ers legend explains. “You have to be able to stay focused on what you want to accomplish.

“Having positive people around you is really important too.”

Rice is one of several big-name ambassadors lending their expertise to the Academy and is well-placed to do so. The 57-year-old is universally regarded as one of the best players the NFL has ever seen after a 20-year career that saw him win three Super Bowls.

His tally of 208 career touchdowns is still an NFL record and he also tops the all-time lists for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.

“Coaching is everything and giving these guys a good platform to stand on,” he adds.

“When I first came in, it was the route running, the way you caught the football, what you did after you caught the football.

“That was something I just did over and over again and that was because of my coaching.”

The man responsible for overseeing the development of the students is head coach Tony Allen, who has won several national championships in charge of the London Olympians and current champions the London Warriors.

Despite possessing almost three decades of coaching experience which spans back to the days of NFL Europe, the Academy has still presented fresh challenges for the veteran to overcome.

While a large number of the 90 students have played in some of the country’s leading youth programmes such as the London Blitz, Warriors, Sandwell Steelers and Manchester Titans, around 30 are ‘cross-over athletes’ – relative newcomers who, like Wade, Gray and Scotland-Williamson, have made the transition from other sports.

“It was the first time I’ve been around that many cross-over athletes who hadn’t played before” admits Allen, who worked with the NFL for 15 years between 1994 and 2008. “We didn’t want their first experience to be an embarrassing one, so we had bespoke practices for them and wanted to make sure they understood the football terminology.

“For someone coming from another sport, it’s like a completely different language – so we spent a good two weeks doing that.

“Even with some of the young men we recruited from different teams, we quickly realised that they were playing different versions of the game depending on their age – either 5v5 or 9v9. They weren’t really playing 11-man football.

“So when you got into the schematics of the game, it was all new to them as well and we quickly realised ground zero was the best place to start. We’ll do the same next year and not assume there is a level of football intelligence.”

For two-time Pro Bowler LeCharles Bentley, who has worked with many of the NFL’s top offensive linemen since his retirement in 2009 and has been among those to visit the Academy since its opening, the inexperience of many students presents other unique tests.

“I think the biggest challenge for the coaches is cultivating a true love for the game,” explains the former New Orleans and Cleveland centre, who is involved with the NFL’s Way to Play initiative – a resource to help promote proper technique among players and coaches.

“That is going to be a unique challenge that many of the coaches are going to have to deal with here that those working with this age demographic in the US won’t have.”

Nevertheless, he also feels that the situation also provides certain advantages, adding: “Installing good practices is important at every level of football, but what is unique here is that you have the chance to build something in a very organic way. For many of these athletes, they don’t have bad habits so it’s critical that what you are instilling within them is right.

“That is a unique position to be in – for many coaches, that’s not one of the luxuries we have. You spend more time getting an athlete to unlearn rather than getting the opportunity to teach.”

Although the Academy has been open for just a few months, Allen has been impressed with the development many of the players have shown. And rather than just concentrating on teaching students the skills they need on the field, just as much focus is placed on developing other qualities.

In addition to balancing a full academic timetable with three on-field practices, the students’ weekly schedule also includes four sessions apiece in the classroom and weight room.

“It’s a tough environment because of the football and academics,” recognises Allen. “If you don’t do your academics you don’t practice.

“One of the core skills that’s really important to us is toughness, as much mental as physical. If you say you’re tired, you will be tired. If you say you can’t do it, you won’t do it.

“These are very young men – you can say that they need to work hard but they need to understand what that truly means. We have classes where we are teaching life skills, such as character-building and teaching them to make the right decisions.

“We’re constantly reinforcing that and the other values of the NFL such as integrity, responsibility and honesty. They’re old-fashioned beliefs and it can be hard to instil them, especially with these younger guys.”

That’s where the involvement of Rice and other ambassadors such as reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes, Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr and home-grown stars Obada and Jay Ajayi is so valuable.

Rice has consistently highlighted his work ethic as the most important trait to his success and made sure to reinforce that message when he addressed the students for the first time during his visit in November.

“You have to put the work in,” he tells Mirror Sport. “If you don’t have a good work ethic, you don’t have a chance.

“That’s something I will preach all day. You might not be the most gifted athlete but if you put the work in you at least give yourself an opportunity.”

And a quote from the man himself appears in the Academy’s gym to act as a constant reminder – “When you play football on the professional level there are lots of good players and everyone is very talented. It’s about those who are willing to make sacrifices and work hard who can make it to the next level.”

Fraser Holden is one of the Academy’s students discovering the pressures of balancing a full-time education with a gruelling football schedule, as well as the dedication required to have success doing so.

The 16-year-old takes a train from Milton Keynes at 5:45am on school days to ensure he arrives for 7am to study film and prepare for the day’s classroom sessions before going through lessons and practices.

“The first couple of weeks were a really big shake-up for me,” he explains. “Going from a school five minutes away to travelling on a train here every day – it was a big change.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been easy, but it’s been challenging in a good way. It’s made me more mature because I have to make sensible decisions.

“I can’t go out with friends on a Friday night, I can’t stay up ridiculously late. Instead of doing that, I will have to catch up on homework and things like that.

“But if you can dedicate yourself to an opportunity like this and you love the sport then it’s not a hard decision.”

Although there is a hope that the Academy will ultimately result in more international players playing in college football and the NFL, those involved with the institution have consistently stressed that the true aim is to provide the students with a solid foundation going forward.

Opportunities to play at the highest level would be, as Rice put it in his address to the students, “the icing on the cake”. And It is something that many of them are aware of.

“First and foremost I want to make sure I get my academics and my A-Levels. You need them for anything,” adds Holden, who is currently studying Government and Politics, English Language and Literature, and Economics.

“My ultimate goal is to go to an American college and then move on to the NFL, but you have to be realistic and have a plan. How many players are in the NFL compared to the rest who play football?

“It’s a very small gap, so if the opportunity for football isn’t there then I want to fall back on my academics and go into something like politics.”

And for Rice and the others involved in the Academy, Holden’s attitude encapsulates what the whole process is all about.

“There are some diamonds in the rough here,” the Hall of Famer says. “They want to play football, collegiate football, then maybe even professional football – you start with just educating the kids.

“The Academy puts the kids in a position where they can learn life skills and be successful in life. If we can find even a couple of these players and give them the opportunity to come to the US and go to college then I feel it will be well worth it.

“It would be fantastic to see more international players coming through,” he continues. “And I would love to be part of it and to be able to point to a player and say ‘I remember him from the NFL Academy and now he’s playing professional football’. It can happen, and I think it will.”