We lift the lid on a first-of-its-kind combine held on the Gold Coast as the race heats up for APAC NFL Academy spots
NFL megastars watched on as 300 Aussie hopefuls vied for coveted spots in the NFL’s inaugural Asia-Pacific Academy. Watch the videos and discover the traits scouts are looking for.
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It was like the opening scene of every American high school football movie.
Music was pumping, coaches were barking instructions, whistles were howling in all directions.
There was hundreds of teenagers spread across a field doing all manners of drills; some familiar, some foreign.
But this was no work of fiction. This was the brand new Asia-Pacific NFL Academy - based at A.B. Paterson College on the Gold Coast - in full swing, hosting the sport’s first youth combine on Australian shores.
“We’re not necessarily coaching them to play the game today,” said the head of the Asia-Pacific NFL Academy Will Bryce at the combine on Saturday.
“It’s more to see can they follow instructions, how athletic are they, and how do they handle new movements and new drills and skills that are being put on them that they’ve never done before.”
About 300 participants attended the first combine, it’s expected to be the biggest of the three planned, with events in Sydney and Auckland to follow.
There isn’t a set number on how academy spots will be filled in its initial September intake, but it’s expected to be in the ballpark of 12 to 20, so competition is rife.
Two sessions were held over the course of the first combine, which ran from 8.30am to 4.30pm, with the first for 17-18 year-olds and the second for kids aged 16 and under.
“We’ve got a multitude of stations, we’re going to go through hand size, arm length, wing span, seated height, standing height, body weight, we’ll take a profile photo, and then we’ll go on the field and we’ll have different stations set up,” said Bryce of what the day entailed.
The teen hopefuls were put through a 40-yard dash, standing broad jump test, and several football stations to evaluate their multi-directional movement.
“I’ve had a few kids come over and say ‘that was very different’,” Bryce laughed.
“They’re used to playing sports like basketball where you’re standing up all the time, but in American Football you’re bending and flexing your hips and your knees and your ankles, they’re using muscles that they didn’t know they had.
“We’ll bring a lot of energy, have a lot of fun, and hopefully kids learn something from it, it’ll be the first of many (combines) to come.”
Bryce detailed how much work would go into scouting kids for the academy, revealing it was a far more in-depth process than simply liking the size or speed of a player.
“Measurements data is one piece, because of the age group we’re working with, they’re still growing and you have to factor that in,” he said.
“We could be getting a young man who’s played rugby yesterday so he’s not going to run as fast today, you have to take that into account, they’re not everything and they’re not the finished article.”
He said coaches would be assessing the baseline athleticism of players, as well as how coachable they are, what their behaviour’s like and how they interact with other kids.
Education is another pivotal consideration that will be assessed before players are admitted into the academy, given that it’s a high school program aligned with A.B. Paterson College.
“Sport and education are aligned, they have to work together ... education underpins everything,” Bryce said.
“We could have the best athlete in the world on this field but if we can’t get them to a point where they can be admitted into a university at the end of it, we have to look at other opportunities, so it’s a challenge.
“We want to make sure we create a robust, flexible, thoughtful, adaptable program for them that makes them tick all the boxes we need but still enjoy being a teenager.”
The big names
Several current and former NFL stars turned up at A.B. Paterson College to show their support for the new academy and take a look at the combine.
Headlining the attendees was Patriots wide receiver and Super Bowl winner JuJu Smith-Schuster, as well as San Francisco 49ers legend Jesse Sapolu.
Former Philadelphia Eagles defensive end and now player development assistant Matt Leo was also in attendance watching over the day, as was fellow Aussie Jotham Russell, 20-year-old rugby league convert who was picked up by the Patriots earlier in this year.
The dedication
Athletes travelled from far and wide to take part in the combine, particularly 16-year-old Augustus Tan, who trekked some 1700 kilometres south from Cairns to showcase his skill at the combine.
“I squished down on an Alliance Airlines flight at 11pm last night, woke up, drank two red bulls, and now I’m here and had a good time,” Tan said.
It’s his first year playing the sport, and he plays seniors with Cairns Falcons in the Regional Queensland Gridiron league as a wide receiver and running back.
“I’m hoping to be the first Singaporean College recruit, there hasn’t been one ever, I’d love to have the opportunity and it would be a big honour for me.”
Despite the lofty ambition, it’s Tan’s first year playing the sport.
“It’s just pedal to the metal,” he said.
“I’m going to go back to Cairns, keep in the gym, keep doing what I’m doing ... and hopefully I get a very nice letter in the mail.”
The scouting
“I’ve watched more rugby league games now than I ever have in my life,” Will Bryce joked about the work that’s been undertaken to unearth the next big thing.
Bryce previously headed the International Player Pathway program out of the NFL’s London office, before relocating to the Gold Coast in November to take charge of the academy. ‘
Jordan Mailata is the most notable ex-rugby league to taste NFL success, while Jotham Russell had been in youth programs with the Broncos and Raiders before his switch.
“There’s a natural segue there but it’s a very different sport,” Bryce said of rugby league.
Since touching down in Australia, his scouting efforts had included watching volleyball, basketball and athletics, just to name a few.
“Everything, every level, every sport, as much as time allows. I’m just trying to keep the finger on the pulse and what it all looks like,” he said, noting the Seattle Seahawks had signed a handball player from Italy.”
The future
Charlotte Offord, the general manager of NFL Australia and New Zealand, detailed what the future would hold for the NFL’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region.
“This is just the start for us,” Offord said.
“Seeing 300 kids come out is pretty incredible and beyond the expectations of what we expected to start with.
“I think once people see the pathway happen, the numbers will grow. It will take a little bit of time to build up the knowledge of what is possible.
“Once they know what’s possible I can see these camps getting much bigger in the future.”
She hopes The Asia-Pacific academy can emulate the success of it’s UK counterpart, which was established in 2019 and had it’s first player drafted this year when Travis Clayton was picked up by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round.
“Next year our vision is to go into the Pacific and have camps through the Pacific as well as parts of Asia like Japan where there is exceptional talent that exists, but we wanted to start with our base of Australia and New Zealand and continue to grow,” Offord said.
The hope would be for combine’s abroad to scout the best talent before relocating them to the Gold Coast academy, which will serve as a hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region.
“This is the hub, this is where they will come, this is where they will live, this is where the will go to school at A.B. Paterson College,” she said.
“They’ll be fully educated here, they’ll be fully trained on this field.”
The construction of a high performance facility which will include an NFL-grade synthetic field is slated for the coming years.
The academy’s goal is to start small before gradually expanding to a full 53-man roster that it can take on overseas tours.
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