How Louis Rees-Zammit inspired NFL Academy prospect Rafael Blakstad to chase a new dream

Rafael Blakstad begins to detail the intricacies of a skinny post route, and the make-or-break fine margins of a five-yard hitch. Sorry to inform you, Rafa, but you are hooked sir. And once football has you, it will never let you go.

He features among the NFL Academy’s newest crop of athletic studs and aspiring college stars, armed with the rangy arms of a dunk-on-them basketball player, the dwarfing height of a gifted rugby prospect and the tactical fascination of a willing football protege. Meet head coach Steve Hagen’s new vertical wide receiver threat.

While Emmanuel Okoye continues his development in Tennessee and Daniel Akinkunmi learns the ropes in Oklahoma as two beacons of Academy success, Blakstad is at the beginning of his journey as the Academy prepares to take on Californian high school De La Salle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday night.

Football was never the plan. Suddenly it is the dream.

“It was completely by chance and coincidence. I actually came to Loughborough for an open day for rugby. I played for Saracens and was an England Academy player for them, so Loughborough is one of the best rugby schools and I wanted to come here for union,” he said.

“I actually happened to get lost and I bumped into Lamonte Wilson and was asking where something was, he then asked ‘are you playing American Football?’.

“That kind of sparked this switch. I came down for a session or two and then one evening I was unsuspecting at home and got a call from Louis Rees-Zammit, which was mind-boggling. He was literally one of my favourite rugby players and achieved so much so young in his career.”

Rees-Zammit is currently part of the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad after stepping away from Welsh rugby on the eve of the Six Nations to enter the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme earlier this year.

The former Gloucester wing initially signed with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs before heading over to Jacksonville, with whom he will travel to the UK this week as the Jags prepare to play back-to-back games in London.

“Obviously I’d heard about his move across and things like that and our head coach Steve Hagen was out there coaching for the IPP,” Blakstad continued. “Being able to speak to him for a good 15/20 minutes was great, just to ask him about it because I was kind of on the fence about making the switch because rugby was going so well.

“Essentially there were similarities between both of us. He was obviously a lot higher level than me, but in terms of making that switch and going back to square one.

“But ultimately the opportunities are infinite, and speaking to him I decide ‘yes, that is definitely something I want to do’ and the rest is history.”

Blakstad was curious, as many had been upon Rees-Zammit’s decision to leave rugby. The world at his feet as one of the sport’s most explosive talents, why risk it all? In short – this is the NFL.

“He was telling me that if he had the opportunity to try and do the Academy when he was my age, even if he knew he was going to achieve all the things he would have later on in rugby, he still would given it all up,” he said.

“Hearing that from one of your idols, I just realised I couldn’t miss this opportunity because this is clearly such a big thing, and if he’s willing to give up all the things he’s achieved to give it a go and see if it can work, then why shouldn’t I?”

Rees-Zammit jetted stateside with all the physical attributes to make a strong run at making a career for himself in football, before being greeted by the complexities of an NFL playbook. Ask any IPP product or any existing NFL Academy prospect, and all will admit to the defining role learning, understanding and absorbing football’s Xs and Os plays.

Blakstad has embraced the challenge of burying his head into film study.

“All the aspects of learning the routes and how to do different sort of work is ultimately so important,” he said. “But if you don’t know the playbook and you don’t know the plays and the concepts and all those things, you’re lost.

“Obviously rugby is a more free-playing game. You’ve got structures within it that you have freedom to do certain things with, whereas in football you have certain routes. If you have a five-yard hitch, you go five yards. If a post is skinny, it has to be skinny.

“Spending hours on film is so, so different, but you feel like you’re constantly learning. You don’t get to escape, which I kind of love and that feeling of being behind and having to compete with the boys in America.”

Since his arrival at Loughborough the rugby convert has been working closely with Academy head of football Kris Durham, picking the brains of the former NFL wide receiver. Standing at 6ft 5in, Durham, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2011, has become a welcome reference point for Blakstad as he seeks to exploit his own height advantage and reach on the perimeter.

“Obviously we are taller, it’s about knowing how to extend those strides, work the blind spot and use your size and arm reach to jam and pivot around defenders, things like that,” he said. “It’s been crucial.”

With the challenge of adjusting to an alien sport has come the fun of discovering his own identity as a wide receiver; Blakstad knows he cannot be a Tyreek Hill, instead turning to the likes of Randy Moss off whom to base his game.

“I’ve absolutely loved it,” he continues. “It’s kind of almost finding the thing that makes you you and what makes you different.

“I can’t watch Tyreek Hill or things like that for releases and stuff. But the way they attack the ball or the way they’ll create space is completely different to how a Randy Moss would have.

“There is the main package that comes with being a receiver, but within that you have your own personality, it’s been realising things like the high point being one of my strengths and learning how to exploit that.”

The Academy continues to serve as one of the prized assets to the NFL’s international expansion, offering a historic and unprecedented pathway to opportunities in college football while uniting players from all walks of life. It needed little selling to Blakstad or his family.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t explore it and see what it is.”

Awaiting Tuesday evening are the bright lights of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as friends, family and UK football fans descend to watch the Academy step foot on the same field graced by Justin Jefferson and Aaron Rodgers on Sunday.

“Just talking about this is unbelievable,” he said. “When I was first getting recruited, I was invited out to this game last year to watch, so it’s kind of quite full circle.

“This was the first real glimpse I got of football and the Academy on this amazing stage, I had to pick my jaw up.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity. I’m from London so I have a lot of people coming to watch, I’m looking forward to it.”

Watch the NFL Academy take on De La Salle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium live on YouTube here from 5.30pm on Tuesday October 8.