Gridiron gold rush: Aussie teens flood NFL pathway after stunning Gold Coast Academy scholarship sweep

A stunning 100 per cent of the NFL’s Gold Coast Academy intake of 2024 have received full ride D1 scholarship offers in just six months, as growth in applications to the Academy surge past 200 per cent.

NFL Australia and New Zealand general manager Charlotte Offord (left) and A.B. Paterson College Principal Joanne Sheehy. Picture: Supplied by A.B. Paterson College

A perfect eight from eight members of the NFL’s Gold Coast Academy intake of 2024 have already received full ride scholarship offers to attend an American university, as growth in local applications to join the Academy surged past 200 per cent.

Elite US colleges are already lining up to receive players on the Aussie conveyor belt of gridiron talent as more than 200 local athletes trialled for a place at the NFL’s Australian Academy last weekend, tripling the number of attendees at the inaugural regional combine last year.

Some of Queensland’s brightest emerging athletes were measured, weighed and put to the athletic test as the NFL’s hunt for its next overseas superstar continues in Australia.

For the very best, unfathomable wealth - like the $66M USD ($100M AUD) contract awarded to Australian Super Bowl champion Jordan Mailata - awaits.

But, as NFL Australia general manager Charlotte Offord points out, even those who never set foot on an NFL field stand to win big.

The NFL’s Gold Coast academy at AB Paterson College in Arundel took in eight athletes from that inaugural combine in 2024.

Not even six months later, every member of that class has received a full ride sporting scholarship offer to attend a Division I American university.

“The fact that these kids have been in this since October last year and, by March, have received a full education scholarship offer in the US for university is pretty incredible,” Offord said.

While one-fifth of applicants were awarded places in the Academy last year, Offord said there was no cap on the number the NFL would place with AB Paterson this year.

“It really depends on what we find,” she said.

Offord said more combines would be conducted at another Australian location while additional combines in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands were also being explored as options.

Athletes’ height, wingspan, weight, speed, strength, agility, leaping and throwing ability were all measured.

Originally published as Gridiron gold rush: Aussie teens flood NFL pathway after stunning Gold Coast Academy scholarship sweep