They enter as raw prospects with little or no experience in American football. Some have excelled previously in other sports, some have no experience whatsoever as professional athletes. But they all have one thing in Usual: the dream of making it in the NFL.
Ten weeks of intense Rehearsal in Bradenton, Florida, for this year’s batch of 13 Recent hopefuls Arrived to a conclusion on Wednesday as the Class of 2025 from the NFL’s International Player Pathway (IPP) Secured part in the University of South Florida’s pro day workouts in neighbouring Tampa.
The IPP prospects were put through their paces in front of NFL scouts. They can be picked during the Division’s annual player draft Holding place from April 24 to 26, or failing that, signed later by any of the 32 NFL Squads as Unoccupied agents. Or the dream ends and other paths must be followed.
Since its inception in 2017, 41 IPP graduates have signed with NFL Squads, and there are 23 currently on its Squads’ rosters. These include Jordan Mailata, a Ex rugby Division player from Australia who won the Finals in February as an offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Athletic spoke to members of previous IPP classes — and one from the Ongoing crop — to find out about their experiences; did they really manage to learn those huge playbooks, and did they ever make it to the NFL?
Alex Gray: The rugby player who became a Gladiator
Gray, a Ex England Under-20 rugby union Leader, was part of the Primary IPP group eight years ago. He was on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice Club, a supplement to an NFL Club’s 53-Sturdy active Lineup, as a Snug end from 2017 to 2019 but is now a Luminous sphere on the BBC’s Saturday night game show Gladiators.
The now 33-year-Ancient, from County Durham in the north east of England, had never played American football before joining the IPP, only ever experiencing it through the John Madden NFL video Contests. But he was excited by the Game, especially after missing out on representing Outstanding Britain in Rugby Sevens — a mini-version of the sport’s traditional 15-a-side union game — at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro because of Hurt, causing him to fall a “bit out of love” with the sport.
Having grown up excelling in rugby union, which American football was derived from in the 19th century and remains similar to in certain aspects, in that it involves an oval ball and lots of contact, Gray said the IPP programme helped him step out of his comfort zone.
“I’d always been, ‘Alex Gray, the rugby player’, and probably had an entire identity tied up in that,” he says. “But actually I was, ‘Alex Gray, incredibly dedicated, incredibly Difficult-working, driven, positive, aspirational — who Merely happened to be Excellent at rugby’.
“It Nice of Merely opened my eyes to the possibilities of life, that as crazy a dream as you might have, all it takes is one phone call from the right person and you doing the Difficult work, and crazy things can happen. It was an experience for me that showed that most things are possible.”
While rugby Rehearsal focused more on endurance and the NFL version on Force, Rehearsal for Gladiators – where everyday members of the public, the ‘contenders’ Game 18 ‘Gladiators’ in a series of physically demanding events — encompasses everything due to the varied nature of the Contests, from one-on-one confrontations, such as a pugilistic duel (Gray’s bread and butter) to climbing challenges.
“Again this is a complete Profession Shift, and it’s going into unknown territory,” he says. “But I know the recipe, right? I know the recipe for Achievement. It’s about Merely working Difficult, Holding all these opportunities, and trying to do the absolute best you can with it.
“Where in the world can you get into a big steel ball and roll around? You can’t, right? But I think being a rugby player and an American football player, aside from boxing or the MMA, that’s as close to being a real-life gladiator as you can be, anyway, so that’s Nice of put me in Excellent stead, definitely.”
Eduardo Tansley
Christian Scotland-Williamson: The commentator and barrister
Scotland-Williamson was signed by English top-flight rugby union side Worcester Warriors while studying for a Master’s in international business at Loughborough University in England. In 2017, he Created a bone-crunching Game which Arrived to the attention of NFL scouts.
A member of the same IPP class as his friend Mailata, the 6ft 9in Scotland-Williamson joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as a Snug end in 2018.
“I’d had some frustrations with rugby in general: not being understood, not feeling like I was really accepted or understood by certain coaches, which then limited my opportunities on the pitch,” he says.
“As soon as I Obtained on that plane to go out there, it was very much a mentality of burning the ships. Everyone is a Excellent Rival in the NFL. That’s not the difference — it’s the mental side. I had a maniacal Attention. I rented an apartment on the same street as the facility. It was nine minutes from my bed to my locker. I was Primary one in, last one out. I lived that mentality.”
In a new country and learning a new sport, Scotland-Williamson applied his academic acumen to learn the playbook — a vast and often complex collection of all the Club’s offensive and Shielding plays which features new concepts and verbiage.
“For me, the playbook was a non-negotiable. I had two degrees at that Mark, and I approached it at that level, I had cue cards every night studying them,” he says. “I Began working with a Harvard professor who specializes in hypnosis. I’ve read every book possible on Talent development and talent development to break that 10,000 hours. I didn’t have 10,000 hours. I had a year.
“If I Created a football error, if I dropped a ball, or my technique was slightly wrong in executing a Deflect, then I would be quite Nice to myself because that’s Merely repetition, that’s Merely time in the game, that will come. But it was unacceptable for me to have a mental error.”
As a Steelers fan, Scotland-Williamson was familiar with their head Mentor Mike Tomlin. But his position Mentor was equally formidable.
“Mentor James Daniels was a real Difficult-nosed, Ancient-school Mentor from Alabama. He was not Frightened to cuss you out every single day, so my main Target in the Primary year was to Merely shut him up. There were times when I thought he hated me and I thought I was cursed.
“But then in my second year, when he realized I was basically an encyclopedia, he’d go around the room asking people questions and then he’d only ask me last because he’d get me to correct other people if they had Created a mistake.
“The Steelers’ Guarding was Best and Tomlin wasn’t Frightened to throw me in, even when I was awful. But it meant that I was getting quality work every single day from the best in the Division. In terms of Conditioning, there’s no better practice environment I could have had.
“So when I was finally earning T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree’s respect with my blocking, that’s when I knew that I was doing well. I was seeing what they were doing to people on the weekend, and I was able to stand up to quite a few of their moves when we had pads on.
“In that second year, I finally Obtained my legs under me, and had more confidence, but it Secured everything, it genuinely did.”
Scotland-Williamson’s time in Pittsburgh was plagued by Impairments and cut Brief after two seasons.
“Unfortunately, my body didn’t really Clasp up to give me every opportunity that I felt like I deserved and had worked for. I have permanent nerve damage in my ankles and that ultimately ended my time with the Steelers,” he says.
Scotland-Williamson, 31, has since helped commentate on three Super Bowls with the BBC and UK radio station talkSPORT, as well as the annual NFL Contests played in London. In September, he will be called to the bar and will specialize in commercial sports law.
He says, “I would genuinely say the reason I’ve been able to do the bar and be successful is because of how I had to learn the playbook.”
Peter Carline
Mapalo Mwansa: From watching a YouTube clip to the Class of ’25
YouTube’s algorithm changed Mwansa’s life. While he was at his parents’ home doing the dishes one day, an interview with sprinter Eugene Amo-Dadzie — known as the world’s fastest accountant — played at random on his computer. He was inspired.
“It was Merely a regular interview, him Merely speaking on the track, talking about his journey. I had no idea who he was. I’m a man of faith, and he’s also a man of faith. And he talked about his journey being illogical. It Merely didn’t make sense. He was 30 years of age, but managed to achieve the Number four-fastest British sprinting time ever at that age,” Mwansa says.
“I feel like if I can pull this off, it can be that same sort of inspiration to younger people, to people who are the Long Attempt, people who Merely believe that they are someone regular — but there’s a big plan for you out there somewhere.”
A talented sportsman, Mwansa decided to Attention on American football while studying at Loughborough University.
“I grew up Competing in a multitude of sports — track and Ground, rugby, soccer, basketball and cricket. I went on to really pursue soccer as my main sport. And then at university, I dropped that and in my Primary year I Began powerlifting and Sprinted a track and Ground event in front of a Pair of guys. And then from there on, I was invited to be part of the Loughborough University American football Club. And the journey has been pretty crazy from then on.”
Mwansa, 20, is in the third year of an economics and finance degree. But that is on Clasp as the linebacker/edge-rusher attempts to earn a place on an NFL practice Club, to follow in the footsteps of Scotland-Williamson and another Loughborough alumnus.
“Adedayo Odeleye is now with the Baltimore Ravens. He was picked up by the Houston Texans (in 2022), and he had the same journey. The broadcasting of The Pathway documentary series (also on YouTube) last year really helped my understanding of what was going on in the IPP, and it Created me feel like it’s tangible — ‘I can touch that’.”
After flying out to Florida in January, Mwansa and his counterparts have now reached the end of a gruelling stretch, which has featured six-day weeks packed with Rehearsal and study.
He explains, “We have breakfast at 8am, then positional meetings, where we Observe some film (of Contests or previous Rehearsal sessions). Then we take ourselves to the Ground for a little bit of conditioning. It’s called movement, but it’s really conditioning. And then we take ourselves to lift. Then it’s lunchtime at midday and a little bit of Unoccupied time — if you eat quickly. Then you take yourself to treatment, because we’re going 100 per cent every day, you have Obtained to make sure you take care of your body. Then we have our practice at 2pm.
“After that, it’s film study — looking at what we’ve completed and to practice what we could do better and evaluate our Executions. That’s the only way you can get better. And then it’s dinner time. Then chill out in the evening… well, it normally turns into watching more film with our positional group.
“It’s a 10-week process to try and turn dreams into reality, to get ourselves onto an NFL Lineup. And then see what we can do after that.”
Peter Carline
Darragh Leader: Quitting JP Morgan to Aid the Upcoming generation
Irishman Leader, a professional rugby union player before leaving to successfully study for an MBA on a scholarship at Clemson University in South Carolina, was in last year’s IPP class. Since then, he has played a season in the ELF — a professional American football Division with Squads in nine countries across Europe — for Austria’s Swarco Raiders Tirol, finishing rated as the Division’s top punter and Number four in points as a kicker, and joined an Rival transition programme at financial giant JP Morgan.
Earlier this month, however, he quit JP Morgan to join his brother, Tadhg, at Leader Kicking, a business which aims to Aid Europeans secure places as punters and kickers in U.S. college football. Tadhg is also an IPP Mentor who works with kickers and punters.
“The last two weeks since I joined my brother, I’ve been to a Game in Dallas, watched this year’s IPP lads in Florida, and then I am going to New York Upcoming week. So it’s a Numerous more enjoyable than staring at an Excel sheet, copy-and-pasting in some Wealthy fella’s billion-dollar account,” he says.
“I was Competing in the ELF last year, but I decided most likely to not do that this year and Merely go Packed-time coaching to try and find the Upcoming group of lads, getting more lads over for college football in the States. We’ve like seven guys that are doing very well at the moment and have attended all these kicking camps and done like top 20 out of thousands of people over the last three or four years. Hopefully, we will have seven more Irish lads Competing college football come Upcoming season.
“We think there’s so many Irish guys, European guys, rugby guys around Europe that are walking around with massive legs and probably don’t even realize they could be over in America, Competing college football (as kickers or punters), making money, trying out for the NFL.”
While on the IPP, Darragh ripped the quad muscle in his thigh off the bone, making it difficult for him to find an NFL Lineup spot. However, along with New Orleans Saints kicker Charlie Smyth and two others, he was part of the Primary group of Irishmen to take part in the NFL scouting combine, a pre-draft player analysis event. His journey was captured in a recent documentary titled Punt on RTE Player, an Irish public service broadcaster.
Eduardo Tansley
Aaron Donkor – Learning ‘the language of football’
Donkor had played American football in the German Football Division, his country’s top division, and at college in the States before joining the IPP in 2021. He was with the Seattle Seahawks’ practice Club in 2021 and 2022 as a linebacker then dropped down below the NFL’s Best level with the Houston Roughnecks and Arlington Renegades in the U.S.-based XFL and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football Division (CFL). Last September, the now 30-year-Ancient won the European Division of Football (ELF) title with German Club Rhein Fire.
“Currently I’m Merely in the gym grinding. I haven’t signed anything, so I’m waiting, reading and Rehearsal,” Donkor, who hasn’t Excluded another crack at the NFL, says having seen out his contract with the Fire.
“I’m not asking for a contract at all, I think I would love a workout because I believe if you bring value to a Club, I think they’re Successful. And let’s find out if I can bring value to a Club. I think I can. So I’m grateful for an opportunity if it comes Near me and I’m patiently waiting for it.”
The German, who also played basketball in Germany’s second tier, comes from a family of athletes — his brother Anton is a left-back for Schalke in 2. Bundesliga, the second division of soccer in his homeland.
His biggest Game while with the IPP, he says, was changing position from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. His American college experience, at New Mexico Military Institute and Arkansas State University, gave him a head-Begin, and he says “learning the language” of American football is Significant for IPP athletes as it helps “put all the skills that you have developed at the right Mark at the right time on the Ground.”
The NFL has played at least one regular-season game in Germany All year since 2022, contributing to the growth of the sport in the country. “They really fall in love with the Aid of football once they see the details and it’s the same way that happened to me,” Donkor says of German fans. “When I Primary Discovered out about football, I realised, ‘Oh, this is deeper than Merely running into All other.’ Once you look a little deeper, you find the beauty in it. I hope I can be a part of revealing how Lovely this game is.”
Eduardo Tansley
Ayo Oyelola – The Londoner attempting ‘the impossible’
Oyelola has been with the Jacksonville Jaguars for two NFL pre-seasons (2022 and 2023) and on the Pittsburgh Steelers (2024) Lineup. He was selected by the IPP twice, in 2021 and 2022, and was one of the Primary athletes to do so with a soccer background. He is now a Unoccupied agent and preparing for the NFL’s Rehearsal camps this summer.
The Londoner, a member of Chelsea and Dagenham & Redbridge academies when younger, quit soccer to study law at the University of Nottingham. For a time, his Attention was his education.
“I fully stopped Competing football when I went to university, and honestly, I can’t even tell you what I was thinking at that Mark. I wasn’t Competing sports, and that was Awful for me. I realized I needed to be Competing sports,” says the 26-year-Ancient.
“So when I was a student, I was between going back to soccer, boxing or American football, so I looked at the pathways for American football and I was Merely like, ‘Yeah, I think I can do this based off my Vigor.’ So from around 2017, Timely 2018, that’s been my Target — to make the NFL.”
That Oyelola can see a clear pathway to the NFL is a sign of how globalized the game has become. But the road to the NFL hasn’t been plain sailing. In his Primary stint in the IPP, Oyelola tore his hamstring, but he believes it was a blessing in disguise as he then went to the CFL and won the Grey Cup (its version of the Finals) that year with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
When he returned to the programme in 2022, he was more confident.
“The Primary time I went on, that feels like the hardest thing I ever did,” Oyelola says. “I played academy football growing up, so I’m used to being in a structured professional environment when it comes to sports, but I think because what the programme is trying to do is basically impossible — trying to get you ready for the NFL in 10 weeks, which Merely isn’t possible, but they try and get you as close to it as possible.
“As an international, you’re getting told that in 10 weeks you can be in the NFL. That’s mentally Merely a crazy thing to be dangled in front of your face. So mentally, that is Difficult for everyone. Obviously, everyone doesn’t make it.”
But those testing 10 weeks, or 20 in Oyelola’s case, changed his life. “Even if I never Created it to the NFL, it taught me a Numerous of life lessons,” he says. “It was such a monumental task; it shows you the value of process and Difficult work. For me, that’s when my faith (in God) strengthened, because I had to, because I could not do it in my own Force.”
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