Former Junior Springbok and Lions winger Lloyd Greeff has been selected as a player
of interest to try out as a kicker for NFL teams in the USA in May.
Known for his prodigious kicking ability, Greeff has been kicking 75-yard field goals
consistently in practice as he attempts to move from rugby to American Football as a
specialist placekicker. That distance – if successful in an actual NFL game – would be
11 yards longer than any field goal in the history of the NFL.
Greeff is being assisted in transitioning from rugby to American Football by World Wide
Scholarships (WWS) and Jim Ulrich from Enter Sports Management. It is the goal of
WWS, an organisation that finds opportunities to place African talent with the world’s
leading sports teams, to see Greeff not only find a place with an NFL team but to break
records along the way.
Ulrich has represented elite professional athletes for 25 years and is known for his eye
for talent on behalf of professional sports teams. With the backing of WWS and Ulrich,
Greeff will participate in the HUB Combine event on 23 May in California, where 27 NFL
general managers will be in attendance to find new talent for their 2021 rosters.
The HUB Combine event is designed to help propel free-agent players into the world of
professional NFL football. Ulrich’s track record of finding and helping talent to reach the
world’s biggest stages and becoming regular NFL starters suggests that Greeff has a
bright future ahead of him after coming so close to ending his career through injury.
WWS CEO Munya Maraire is excited about the prospect of Greeff blowing open the
door for more South African talent in the NFL – still a relatively unexplored sport for
most of the country. “There is no doubt that Africa is brimming with some of the best
talent in the world and we cannot wait to link that talent with the opportunities it needs to
be showcased. Working with ESM enables us to partner with one of the most
prestigious agencies in the world with a reputation for placing undiscovered talent on
the biggest of stages. Africa’s time is now and we are right behind our talent.”
Greeff has been training since being picked at the WWS Scout Camp in December
2020 and is excited about this opportunity to further showcase his talent.
“I have been training 6 days a week with a strong focus on speed work, strength and
conditioning. American Football is not too different to rugby when it comes to most
training, but I have concentrated on my speed work more so as the game is focused on
bursts of short sprints,” Greeff said.
“I am very excited for the next phase of my career and playing American Football is a
dream for many and I know with the hard work and dedication I have put into my
training, I can be one of the first South African trained sportspeople to play in the NFL,”
concludes Greeff.
WWS is committed to bringing American Football closer to African players and has
partnered with the NFL Draft Bible and Jim Ulrich to host an American Football
scouting camp in South Africa in August 2021.
More information about the HUB event can be found at on the Hub football camp:
https://www.hubfootball.com/about/hub-football/
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