Love Island, 8,000 calories, 14-hour days and becoming an NFL player in 10 weeks
George Smith watched his first Super Bowl just a month ago, yet in a matter of days the former rugby player faces the biggest day of his life as he vies to earn a spot in the NFL.
The 22-year-old is part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program, which scouts for gifted athletes around the globe and puts them through an intensive 10-week crash course in hope of earning a place on one of the 32 teams. Among the class of 2024 are Wales rugby superstar Louis Rees-Zammit and ex-England youth international Harry Mallinder.
Smith came through the ranks at Old Redcliffians in Bristol before turning professional with Coventry, but he tore up his contract last year, taking an enormous leap of faith to try to make it as an offensive lineman.
Standing at 6ft 9in and 120kg while he was playing in the Championship for Coventry, Smith was exactly the kind of athlete the program was looking for. He has bulked up even more since, weighing in at 143kg a week out from his pro day, when NFL scouts will watch him complete a series of drills.
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The NFL was never on Smith’s radar. He admits he had no knowledge of the intricacies of the game before being approached by his agent in the autumn about the program. But the opportunity instantly appealed, and he feels not one shred of regret.
“It’s going better than you could even imagine,” Smith told Mirror Sport. “The whole experience has been mega and I’ve really enjoyed it. It came completely out of the blue. I had never even watched a Super Bowl six months ago.
“I remember sitting there after a training session with Coventry and my agent wanted me to give him a call. He told me [NFL international football development manager] James Cook was asking about people who tick boxes, and apparently I ticked most boxes so that’s how it came about. A couple of calls led to a meeting and a workout in person and then they thought I was a good fit for the program.
“In my mind, I said yes straight away after watching everything on YouTube and researching the program. But I was under contract so I had to think about doing this properly in a way that doesn’t hurt relationships with people that have been good to me.”
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Smith has parked his rugby career to try to make it in the NFL (Alamy Stock Photo)After taking care of business back home, Smith jetted out to Florida on December 18 to join the program, which is based at the state-of-the-art IMG Academy high school campus in Bradenton. Smith likened his digs to reality TV show Love Island, sharing a pool, hot tubs and a lodge, with no expense spared.
A team bond has been created as a result, and Smith has relished the chance to “rip back everything and get to know” the likes of Rees-Zammit and Mallinder “as people rather than superstars”. But while the accommodation gives the illusion of being on a luxury holiday, this program is all business.
Smith is up and about at 6am before heading for breakfast with his colleagues. The first of many meetings is at 7.45am, followed by classroom work with positional coaches. Treatment and on-field sessions are next all the way through to lunch. Then the high-tech stuff starts, with sprinting and mechanics workouts at 1.30pm, followed by 90 minutes in the gym. It does not end there - not even close - with meetings upon meetings until 8pm, when it is time for revision and a few extra positional drills before bedtime. That routine is repeated five days a week.
“This is the toughest thing I’ve ever done,” Smith admits. “It blows a full rugby pre-season out of the water. It’s mega intense. Mentally, it’s so draining but so rewarding at the same time. You have to be mentally tough because the information is chucked at your face and you’ve got to take it all in.”
Smith is used to being the biggest man in any room he walks into, but when the job you are trying to reach is protecting $200m quarterbacks, bigger is always better. Since putting his rugby career on hold, he has bulked up to 23kg, with a strict diet which requires him to eat a staggering 8,000 calories per day, “just to maintain size and not feel like lying in bed all day”.
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Smith admits the seriousness of not just the program but American sport altogether has been striking. There have been days spent in the nearby Gatorade science lab, working with nutritionists and advanced technology to understand his body, including sessions sitting in a pod to precisely calculate body fat percentages and calories burned per hour.
“It’s a different ball game to British sport in general,” he said. “I’m not trying to slate British sport in schools or colleges or universities, but this American sporting culture is crazy. Until you’ve come here and walked around the campus of a high school, you won’t get to know how crazy it is.”
So it is no wonder the program has proved hugely successful in sending players to the NFL since it launched in 2017, with 21 IPP graduates on rosters last season including Philadelphia Eagles star left tackle Jordan Mailata. Like Smith, the Aussie had never played a single snap before entering the program. He was a rugby league player, with a strikingly similar build to Smith.
Smith hopes to follow in the footsteps of Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata, a graduate of the NFL International Player Pathway Program (Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Within three years of entering the league as a standout athlete but a novice football player, Mailata signed a four-year, $64million (£50m) contract with the Eagles after becoming a cornerstone of the offensive line. But he recognises his career would not have been possible without the International Player Pathway, and he helped out at the program for a few days when it began in January.
“Jordy is in my phone now,” Smith laughed. “The first week of the program, he came down and spent three or four days with us, talking and mentoring us. He’s very passionate about the program. He’s a really great guy.
“It’s been a way to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think here it’s easy to be mentally in this hole where it’s just work, work, work, grind, grind, grind. But when you’ve had people come from previous years and played in the NFL, it’s refreshing because there is a light at the end of the tunnel and you’re doing it for a reason.”
Smith also credits the program’s offensive line coach Paul Dunn for his enormous influence on him in just a few short weeks. “It’s the relationship between us and the coach and that was the moment I was like ‘Geez, this is how it’s going to be’. I sat there and knew this is what I signed up for, it was a great moment,” Smith said.
On March 20, Smith and his IPP teammates will make the short trip to the University of South Florida to take part in the school’s pro day, when NFL scouts and executives are invited to watch the prospects take part in a series of drills, including a 40-yard dash, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle.
Inevitably, Smith and the other IPP prospects will be regarded as works in progress, but a newly introduced rule that has created an extra spot on practice squad rosters starting this year improves their chances of landing with a team. Smith is under no illusions of the stakes when he is under the microscope next week.
“Pro day is a big day for us, that’s when it gets serious,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest day in most of our lives with the opportunity that it is. It’s the pro day for USF as well so there are going to be a few top-round picks that we’re going to be working out with, so it’s going to be good to size up to them and compete. I think we’re all going to compete with the adrenalin rush running through us with people watching and knowing this is it.
“There was always an unknown when I was even thinking about doing this, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else now. Everything is still unknown, we haven’t even touched base with any team personnel at the moment, but that all changes next week. That’s when I think we’ll start really zoning in and knowing what’s going to happen. It’s all unknown. It’s big time, so this is where I want to be. This is it now.”
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