NFL Academy’s U.K. Program Kicks Off 2024-2025 Season
NFL Academy U.K. Held First Training Session of the Season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
2024-25 Roster Welcomes 72 Players From 19 Different Countries and Territories This Academic Year.
The NFL Academy’s U.K. program held its first training session of the season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as it kicked off the 2024-2025 academic year.
Welcoming 72 players from 19 different countries and territories to the roster, the NFL’s elite player development program based in Loughborough, U.K., supports talented student athletes from across Europe and Africa.
The NFL Academy opened in September 2019 in the U.K., with a second location opening on Australia’s Gold Coast this September. The program offers talented student athletes (aged 16 – 19 U.K.; aged 12 -18 Australia) a pathway to combine their full-time education with intensive training in American football, under the guidance of a professional coaching team.
Lamonte Winston, Head of NFL Academy, and Head Coach Steve Hagen will continue to lead the program in the U.K., with both having NFL and college football experience and a shared ambition to create a world-class elite environment for students to succeed both on and off the field.
“The NFL Academy provides an incredible opportunity for talented young student athletes across the globe to take their first steps on their American football journey. The elite football development program is a key pillar of the NFL’s long-term commitment to global football development efforts,” said Lamonte Winston, Head of NFL Academy. “We look forward to continuing to build a culture of success on and off the field, while creating more opportunities for young people in the program, as we welcome our roster of student athletes for this upcoming academic year.”
This season, the NFL Academy U.K. will play four games against renowned U.S. high school teams.
The opening game on August 15 against Edgewater Eagles, a Floridian high school that has been runner’s up in the Florida State Championship five times, will be held at Loughborough University, the home of NFL Academy in the U.K.
The second game, a week later, on August 22, sees the NFL Academy travel to Oregon to take on Massillon Tigers for the first time at the Nike Kickoff Classic. The Tigers are a decorated team that have accrued 25 State titles and nine national titles, which will be a great test for the NFL Academy.
The NFL Academy will host a game against De La Salle Spartans at the at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 8, where last year they earned a comprehensive 35-0 victory over Erasmus Hall. De La Salle’s most notable alumni is running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who will be present at the game.
In November the NFL Academy will face IMG Academy for the third straight year, this time in in Munich, Germany. IMG Academy won the first match up in 2022, and NFL Academy claimed victory last year.
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About the NFL Academy:
The NFL Academy program offers talented student athletes a pathway to combine their full-time education with intensive training in American football, under the guidance of a professional coaching team. The program began in the U.K. serving student-athletes from across Europe and Africa and has expanded recently to Australia to also service student-athletes across the APAC region.
In the U.K., the NFL Academy is based at Loughborough’s world-renowned center of sporting excellence and in partnership with Loughborough College and Loughborough University. The program promotes world class performance and the development of elite player pathways, supporting student athletes (aged 16-19) with NFL best practices and resources.
The NFL Academy in the APAC region, located on Australia’s Gold Coast, will open in September 2024 in partnership with A.B. Paterson College and supported by the City of Gold Coast and the Queensland State Government (aged 12-18).
NFL Academy U.K. 2024-25 Season Schedule:
• August 15: Edgewater Eagles at Loughborough University
• August 22: Massillon Tigers, Nike Kickoff Classic, Ronaldo Field, Oregon
• October 8: De La Salle Spartans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
• November 8: IMG Academy in Munich
NFL Academy alumni currently playing Division 1 College football:
• Darren Agu, United Kingdom (TE) – Vanderbilt University
• Dimitri Madden, United Kingdom (DL) – Akron University
• Seydou Traore, United Kingdom (WR) – Mississippi State University
• Freddie Pelling, United Kingdom (OL) – Campbell University
• Samuel Isiguzo, United Kingdom (DB) – Bryant University
• Tunde Mkparu, United Kingdom (DB) – Bryant University
• Ott Eric Ottender, Estonia (WR) – University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Kofi Taylor-Barrocks, United Kingdom (LB) – University of Texas at El Paso
• Peter Clarke, United Kingdom (TE) – Temple University
• Emmanuel Okoye, Nigeria (TE) – University of Tennessee
• Dominic Braesch, Germany (OL) – University of North Alabama
• Daniel Akinkunmi, United Kingdom (OL) – Oklahoma State University
• Luke Yau-Gayle, United Kingdom (DL) – University at Buffalo
• Timi Oke , United Kingdom (DB) – Northwestern University
• Lopez Sanusi, Ireland (DL) – Boise State University
• Pape Abdoulaye Sy, Senegal (OL) – Boston College
• Benjamin Kienz, Germany (OL) – Kennesaw State Germany
• Yahya Attia, Austria (OL) – University of Colorado Boulder
• Clinton Azubuike, Nigeria (DL) – Northern Arizona University