Jacob Smillie: The former rugby player targeting NFL opportunity after International Combine

Jacob Smillie's first memory of the NFL was watching a game around Christmas 2018. He can't remember who was playing, he can't remember the result, all he remembers is that it was snowing.

He had been introduced to the league by his mum's partner, before following the familiar procedure of watching clips on YouTube and buying the video game Madden as a source of both education and entertainment, studying how running backs would slalom between tackles and how wide receivers ran routes while simply learning what a first down was.

Earlier this month the rugby convert was one of 43 athletes, consisting of 13 different nationalities, to participate in the NFL's International Combine at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he tested as a running back with ambitions of earning a spot on the International Player Pathway programme. How time flies.

"It was a really good experience, the best thing is to obviously be around people who want to be the best athletes they can possibly be and to have that desire and determination to put themselves to the NFL and that in itself helped motivate me," he told Sky Sports. "When you’re around those sort of people it pushes you to another level.

"I left everything out there and that’s the main thing. The most important thing as well is that I enjoyed it, when you do something you enjoy it’s a good thing because you’ll tend to excel."

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Smillie, who recorded the fourth-fastest 40-yard dash on the day with a time of 4.66, was invited to the Combine after garnering attention with workout videos and clips of his rugby tries on social media.

The 23-year-old famously earned praise from ex-rugby league winger Martin Offiah after running the length of the field to score a try for Halifax reserves in 2019. He featured once for the senior team before signing with the Bradford Bulls reserves in 2020 followed by the Swinton Lions, failing to make an appearance for the latter as his time at the club was hampered by injury.

This year he turned his focus to gridiron.

"When I was at school I was in the second set for PE so I had to work hard," he said. "I only started rugby at 18-years-old and got into the professional game at 20, I made my first-team debut at 20 and then made my senior cap for Jamaica rugby union at 20 as well. It all happened quick.

"I dedicate my life to training, I play my own sessions out, I don’t party, I don’t drink, I just enjoy being the best athlete I can possibly be really. Ex-rugby professional Richie Barnett, he was my training partner and I did a lot with him during my time playing rugby and Marcus Urbanski supported me in speed training and planning out gym sessions. I’ve tried to make myself the best version of myself I can really."

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Smillie was born in Bradford but qualifies to represent Jamaica through his dad's parents and made his debut for the nation as a substitute against Bermuda at the 2019 Rugby Americas North Championship.

"It was a really big achievement," he said. "We had about 10 British Jamaicans playing and then the rest were Jamaican so it was really good to meet up with them and help them out because obviously they’re trying to grow the game over there so it was a really good experience."

That Smillie acknowledges the goal of growing rugby in Jamaica seems fitting at a time when he is now playing a role in helping football continue its expansion beyond America.

The NFL recently announced that Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich are the three finalist cities in the search for a German host partner as the league prepares to stage at least four international games each season from 2022.

"When it’s a global sport anything can happen so imagine 10 years down the line it could be in France, it could be in Japan, it could be in Nigeria so it just shows you how big the sport is and what the ambitions are," said Smillie.

The beauty of the International Combine proved to be the diversity as backgrounds ranged from Nigeria's Up Rise Academy to Finland's Seinajoki Crocodiles and New Zealand to Hungary's Fehervar Enthroners. Smillie was also accompanied by another former rugby player in Joshua Addams, who played for London Irish Wild Geese.

"Everybody had their own unique story and that’s what helps motivate athletes like myself because you’re looking around, everybody is sitting at the same table and everybody has that drive and determination to get somewhere," continued Smillie. "That pushes you to go even further. You want to be around like-minded people and obviously it brings the best out of you."

Besides the physical preparations, training for the Combine entailed studying Dalvin Cook and Tyreek Hill in addition to a certain Christian Wade, who joined up with the Buffalo Bills as part of the International Player Pathway programme in 2019 having traded in rugby for a chance to pursue a career in the NFL.

"Christian Wade and Christian Scotland-Williamson, they’ve been a big encouragement to my journey so far and been positive role models showing that it’s possible to go from rugby to the NFL," said Smillie.

Scotland-Williamson [Pittsburgh Steelers] and Alex Gray [Atlanta Falcons] have both spent time on NFL practice squads having shelved rugby careers in order to chase their dream Stateside.

Jordan Mailata, formerly of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, has meanwhile asserted himself as starting left tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles as one of the International Player Pathway programme's most prominent success stories.

While all those to experience the transition cite the challenges posed by learning an NFL playbook from scratch, the transferrable physical traits naturally continue to tempt others into attempting the jump.

"I’d say in rugby my main trait was my speed and getting past players and in the NFL everybody are athletes and that’s what drives you to that sport," Smillie explained. "You can be a good athlete in that sport. The 40-yard dash and stuff like that shows you how fast you are, as a running back you’ve got your own job and if you don’t do your job the team’s in trouble, I like that sort of challenge."

Smillie is among those unfortunate to have been a few years late for the emergence of the UK's NFL Academy, which offers young student-athletes aged 16-19 a full-time professionally-coached environment in which to develop their talent and knowledge of football while also getting their education.

Academy products Seydou Traore [Arkansas State], Darren Agu [Vanderbilt], George Reynolds [University of Ottawa] and Pelayo Martinez [Borregos Salvajes México ITESM] have already crossed the pond, while Freddie Pelling and Peter Clarke are among those to have received Division 1 college offers.

"I think it’s really good, from a rugby perspective as well you can try it out and see what it’s like, you’ve got that option," said Smillie. "There is a pathway there in England so that’s really positive and obviously I can imagine a lot of people from around the world might go there as well so it’s a really good pathway to showcase your talent and see if you’re good enough and to just grow the game of football."

For now, it is a waiting game for Smillie and his fellow candidates, including those that attend the Mexico Combine on October 23, as they are whittled down to 12. Successful athletes will then train out in Florida for three months before four are allocated to an NFL team.

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