Inch by inch, play by play, American football is taking over. With the Jacksonville Jaguars running out in London for the 10th consecutive year and flag football set to debut at the 2028 Olympics, popularity in the UK is soaring. On the field, however, it’s a different story. Just five Brits have ever won a Super Bowl. But now, via the 2019-formed NFL Academy, there’s a clear pathway from these shores to the gridiron across the Pond. Sam Rider spent a day in the life of an Academy athlete at their new base at Loughborough University, to see what it takes to make it in the US.
Building blocks
“We’re here to eliminate average,” head coach Steve Hagen tells MF, while overseeing the Academy’s bleary-eyed 6am weights session. With more than 38 years of American football experience, including 11 as assistant coach for the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, the man known simply as Coach has been drafted in by the NFL to orchestrate proceedings alongside Lamonte Winston, head of NFL Academy UK.
“We’re trying to give these guys a real chance to play football in America,” the 62-year-old continues. “Before, they were training three times a week. But Americans practise five times a week. If we continued like that, we’d never catch them. So I came over to install what American football really looks like and feels like.”
The unifying aim of the NFL Academy is a worthy one. Led by the National Football League, it’s designed to use
