By CNN
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Welsh rugby union star Louis Rees-Zammit turned heads earlier this year when he announced that he would be leaving behind the sport he made his name in to try his luck at making it into the National Football League.
After all, the 23-year-old was one of rugby’s most promising names and had already made 32 international appearances for Wales, scoring 14 tries. In 2021, aged 20 years and 93 days old, he became the youngest player since 1959 to be selected in the British and Irish Lions squad. He starred at club level for English side Gloucester and was one of Welsh rugby’s poster boys.
A future at the top of the sport seemed all but guaranteed, but Rees-Zammit chose to leave the security of rugby for the NFL International Player Pathway (IPP), a decision that comes with no guarantees of making it to the league.
“I fancy a new challenge and what a better challenge than to be in the NFL,” Rees-Zammit told CNN’s Coy Wire. “I’ve been training really hard for seven or eight weeks now and I think I’m in a good position. I feel smooth, I feel comfortable and I’m ready to show everyone what I can do.”
Rees-Zammit has been training and living at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida alongside the 2024 cohort of IPP athletes, getting to grips with a new sport as he prepares for his Pro Day on March 20, where he will perform drills and athletic tests for NFL evaluators.
Despite never playing football at a professional or organized level, Rees-Zammit is familiar with the game having watched the sport from a young age.
“My dad as a teenager in the UK, he always played American football,” Rees-Zammit explained. “It was pretty tough for him back then though to get over to the States and go to college and try and go through that system.
“I kind of want to continue his legacy and go beyond and inspire a lot of people back home to be able to make this change and, you know, have the confidence to do it as well.”
Rees-Zammit is aiming to play on offense and said that it would be a “dream come true” to play wide receiver or running back in the NFL.
He compares his style of play to that of Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers – versatile players who can take over games running the ball but are also adept route runners and pass catchers.
Rees-Zammit revealed that his favorite NFL player growing up was three-time Pro Bowl receiver DeSean Jackson and used to watch his highlights on YouTube as a teenager.
Like Jackson, Rees-Zammit is also known for his blistering speed. He has earned the nickname ‘Rees-Lightning’ and reportedly clocked a top speed of 24.2 miles-per-hour during a rugby game. For comparison, the fastest ball-carrier in NFL last season was the Seattle Seahawks’ DK Metcalf, who reached 22.23 mph.
His speed could end up making him a useful weapon on special teams as a kick returner or alternatively as a gunner – rugby players are required to play both offense and defense, so Rees-Zammit is no stranger to tackling.
There is no doubt that ‘LRZ’ is frighteningly quick – even by the NFL’s lofty standards – and has been described as a “freak” athlete by his former Wales coach Warren Gatland, but adjusting to the game, let alone making it to the league, takes more than just having raw athletic ability.
“I think a lot of it is being able to accelerate and decelerate at such speed,” said Rees-Zammit when asked about what the biggest challenge was in adapting from rugby to football. “In rugby, you don’t really have to do that too often.
“It’s been an adjustment I’ve had to make but over the past seven weeks. If you were to see my footage from week one compared to now, I’m very happy with it. The coach is very happy with that.”
However, coming to terms with the mental side of the game, learning the X’s and O’s and memorizing plays are just as, if not more important than being an exceptional athlete.
The biggest success story of the IPP is Jordan Mailata, the starting left tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles.
An Australian former rugby player with no prior experience playing football, Mailata came through the pathway to be selected in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft and signed a contract extension with Philadelphia in 2021 worth $64 million with a max of $80 million and $40.85 million guaranteed.
It was a long journey for Mailata however, who said that he “didn’t know where to begin” when he was handed an Eagles playbook for the first time and that it “felt like a different language.”
Unlike Mailata, Rees-Zammit has a head start in that he was an NFL fan before joining the IPP and said that he is conscious of the mental requirements.
“I know how much you have to know,” said the Welshman. “It’s a lot more than rugby, but at the same time, having an idea of the game and being able to actually put what you learn onto the field, that’s not really gonna be new to me. It’s just gonna be the quantity of plays.”
Rees-Zammit also believes that some of his experience on the rugby field will aid him on the gridiron, helping to spot gaps in opposing defenses and win one-on-one matchups out wide.
There is no doubting the 23-year-old’s confidence, despite the fact that his chances of making an NFL roster are arguably slim. In a sport loaded with speedy athletes, he is unlikely to stand out based on his athleticism alone and his lack of experience is a significant hurdle to overcome.
“There aren’t a lot of people who make it in the NFL who haven’t been brought up with the game and played it at a young age,” Gatland said earlier this year.
But none of that fazes Rees-Zammit, who is committed to making his dream into a reality and told CNN that he has no fears about the step that he is taking.
“Whenever I went out and played in rugby, I had no fear,” he said. “My first coach told me to go out there when you get an opportunity, have no fear and express yourself.
So that’s what I’m always gonna do. And I’ve worked really hard for the past seven weeks and I’m gonna continue to do that.”
