Seydou Traore becomes first NFL Academy graduate drafted into NFL by Miami Dolphins

By Ben Collins, BBC Sport Journalist

Seydou Traore has been waiting four hours for the phone call that will change his life. When it comes, he is the picture of calm. Next to him, his mum Zaia is anything but.

Traore and his family are sitting backstage at the NFL Draft, where the 23-year-old Briton — who did not see his loved ones for five years after moving to the US to pursue an NFL career — has just been told his dream is coming true.

Zaia, who is French-Algerian, lets out a zaghrouta — a celebratory trilling sound traditional in North Africa — sheds tears of joy and has an out-of-body experience in a reaction that goes viral.

"I was in a trance," she tells BBC Sport. "I was like 'oh my God, it's happening, he's done it'. That's what I kept telling myself. It was pride and relief because it's been years, and it was all worth it."

Of all the social media content surrounding Seydou's achievement — becoming the first graduate of England's NFL Academy to complete his pathway to the NFL — it is the clip of his mum that he keeps watching. He knows that she understands exactly what it has taken to defy the odds and become an NFL trailblazer.

A pep talk from the great Travis Kelce was just a tiny part of that journey.

From South London to the NFL

Born and raised in south London, Traore was naturally athletic and tried many sports. He was playing football as a goalkeeper when he discovered American football at age 16 with the London Warriors.

In 2019, he earned a place in the first intake at the NFL Academy, a development programme initially based in north London and now located in Loughborough. The academy recruits from many sporting backgrounds, and American football experience is not required.

Almost all NFL draft prospects come through the American college system, which is why the academy was designed to help international players earn scholarships and prepare them for the NFL, both mentally and physically.

Each year, about one million teenagers play American football at high school in the US. Approximately 0.08% of them reach the NFL. The odds are stacked even higher against an international player like Traore.

But he applied himself to his dream, waking at 5am and working all day, every day — either at the academy or training — to improve.

The Breakthrough

The following summer, Traore had a breakthrough. His mum was in the kitchen when he came in and told her: "Some Americans want to speak with you. I've been talking to them for a while and, basically, I'm going to America."

Unknown to Zaia, her son had secured a spot at Florida high school Clearwater Academy. She told him: "I can't afford to come and see you, you'll be there by yourself."

For Traore's sister Zeinab, four years his senior, the thought of him moving 4,500 miles from home was even more difficult.

"He's like my first child so I'm protective," she says. "I was concerned at first. I thought it was too big a jump because he was still young."

Zeinab need not have worried.

Making an Impression

Traore had been laying the foundations for this move for some time, creating videos to showcase his skills. One of them found its way to Clearwater head coach Jesse Chinchar.

"Wow, who's that?" Chinchar wondered as he watched a 6ft 3in guy leaping in the air to make a one-handed catch.

Little did he know that he was watching a Londoner who had yet to play a full-sided game of American football. But Clearwater had a track record of recruiting international players and helping them earn college scholarships.

"I did a bit more digging but there was no game film, just clips of him doing athletic stuff," says Chinchar.

"We got talking to Seydou and it felt like he was going to compete and wanted it for all the right reasons. You could tell how much it meant to him.

"It was kind of a wild adventure because he was one of the most raw, unknown commodities we had brought in, but we thought 'if this kid comes over and it works out, this could change his life'."

He was correct.