Tadhg Leader (left) helped prepare Charlie Smyth (right) for life in the NFL
At the High Performance Centre in Dublin during the week between Christmas and New Year, approximately 100 kickers and punters, all NFL hopefuls from across the island of Ireland, assembled for a winter training session under the watchful eyes of Tadhg Leader and his staff.
A former rugby fly-half who switched to kicking as a player, Leader now runs an academy helping prospective talent get scholarships in the USA, as well as serving as a coach on the NFL's International Player Pathway (IPP) programme.
While it is a relatively new phenomenon, the prospect of playing college football Stateside before then embarking on a career in the NFL is no longer a pipe dream for the hopefuls in attendance.
In 1985, the Dubliner Neil O'Donoghue ended his eight-year, three-team career at the then St Louis Cardinals, and when Derry's Jude McAtamney took to the field for the New York Giants in November 2024, it bridged a near 40-year gap.
