Another Aussie Headed for the NFL ?

gustoonarmy · Jul 19, 2009

Posting this really for our Aussie contingent........
You guys might want to check out this site also.. http://www.gridironaustralia.org.au/

Star-spangled Aussie lineman (From Sydney Morning Herald)

He Is two metres tall. He can bench press 200 kilograms. And on any given weekend, he will lace up his boots in front of 40,000 to 100,000 screaming fans.

Meet Sydney-born gridiron player Adrian Thomas - a 138kg offensive lineman in his third year of a five-year athletics scholarship with a leading American football nursery, the University of Hawaii.

He's played in front of weekly crowds of which Johnathan Thurston could only dream and would put Sonny Bill Williams to shame in a weights session. Yet he earns less in a month than either of those do in a day.

"Yeah, but that's college football," laughs Thomas, who was back in Sydney to celebrate his 22nd birthday last week before returning for the start of a gruelling gridiron season in America. "It's huge over there because in a lot of places like Hawaii and Florida there are no pro NFL teams so college ball is the big thing. I didn't even realise until I got back here just how big playing in front of crowds of 98,000 were," the Shire product says in reference to the Cronulla Sharks' attendance of about 14,000 two weeks ago.

"Average crowds would be between 40,000 and 50,000 a week for college ball. Our home stadium holds 50,000, and it really depends on what the ground capacity is; they're always pretty full. And if we're playing a top team, they definitely sell out.

"It's unbelievable. They're not quiet fans either - they love yelling at you, swearing at you and throwing things. And that can be some of your own fans! So you can't even hear the person next to you unless they're yelling. They're just nuts!"

He is only the fifth Australian to be scouted by an American football university, with Colin Scotts and rugby league international Paul Sironen the most notable. Melbourne Demons player Darren Bennett spent a decade in NFL.

And Thomas hopes to become only the second Australian after AFL star-turned-punter Ben Graham to play in a Super Bowl.

The difference with Thomas is, he isn't a square peg trying to fit in a round hole - which augurs well for him to emulate former Geelong player Graham. He wasn't plucked from rugby league or rugby union, he was scouted from the Sutherland Seahawks - one of eight Sydney gridiron teams that have been commandeering vacant hockey fields for almost three decades.

"When I was 13 I saw gridiron on TV and in video games like John Madden NFL, and I was interested. I don't know how but somehow my dad knew about a competition in Sydney. I got involved and ever since I've never looked back," Thomas says. "When I was 16 the coaches from Hawaii came down and saw me at a big training camp and were interested. They kept an eye on me and came back a year later, and when they found me I was older, a lot more developed, and they were more interested and took me over on a recruiting trip for a week with my family and showed us all the sights and the facilities.

"A month or so later they offered me a five-year scholarship and I moved over [to Hawaii] in January 2006 when I was 18."

And in less than three years, the former Gymea Technology High School student is getting starting spots ahead of American players two years senior to him in the regimented college football system.

He beats 83 teammates on a weekly basis to make the top-22 cut. "There are 105 guys at training every day. So just to make the team once is a massive achievement," he says.

"Some guys go for months without even playing a game. It really comes down to training and who competes the best in drills and the gym.

"To be considered one of the top guys in my position of lineman - we protect the quarterback and open holes for the linebackers - you have to be able to lift a 100kg bench bar at least 20 to 25 times straight. My best is 29."

It's not until the senior and fifth year of college that NFL franchises can actively scout college players, with strict guidelines preventing players even being approached by scouts until their fourth year, so until then Thomas is focused on his journalism degree.

'Scouts have contact with the coaches, they ask for film and stuff, but that generally doesn't happen until your junior year [second-last year]. "That's just how it works over there.

"My main goal is to work hard, study hard and try and play well enough to get an NFL contract. But we're told not to even worry about that stuff yet because the harder you work - and a lot of it comes down to what you do at training and in the weights room - the more chance you're going to get looked at. We just go to school during the week, and in the mornings and afternoons we train."

But with all the fans, hype, training and pressure, you must be on good coin, right?

"We get our scholarships, plus food, and each month we get a cheque for around $1000 to help with rent [laughs]. I live with three other teammates," Thomas says.

"And I can't work because my visa won't let me. And it's not worth risking it to pick pineapples."
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CatoTheElder · Jul 19, 2009

Good luck to him.

SydneyDon · Jul 19, 2009

Yeah, good luck little aussie. Thanks for posting Gus

gustoonarmy · Jul 23, 2009

Football is alive and well downunder

gustoon said:

tommy1 said:

I used to play for the Doncaster Devils, Waverly Sharks and Kew Colts and won a ring with each team. Now none of them exist.

I remember Tony E getting his foot ripped out of its socket at the Sharks and I remember Paul N gettting his bell rung so he had to retire prematurely. Ten years off and coming back. Wow that is some effort.

I also remember driving Eric Mangini to training when he was at the Kew Colts, but we seem to have taken separate roads since then.....
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Cool story
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Another Aussie Headed for the NFL ?

gustoonarmy 2006-2007 TGG.com Best International Poster of the

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Another Aussie Headed for the NFL ?

gustoonarmy 2006-2007 TGG.com Best International Poster of the

CatoTheElder 2009 Comeback Poster of the Year

SydneyDon 2008/2009 TGG The Green Card "International Poster

gustoonarmy 2006-2007 TGG.com Best International Poster of the

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