BY ALANA LAKELAND

TRADITIONALLY AFL footballers who fly stateside to try their luck at a punting career in the NFL do so at the end of their playing days in Australia but Prokick Australia is set to reverse this sequence and are targeting youngsters, The Age reports.

“For the 1500 kids who don’t get drafted next month, and their AFL dream might be over, there’s still an avenue to play top-line sport, in America, and get an education with it,” Prokick Australia’s Nathan Chapman said.

“There’s 400 colleges offering scholarships. We want to be sending kids to college to get four years of experience and a good education and have them ready at 24 years of age to play NFL.

“We want to get a Sav Rocca at 24, not at 34,” he said.

Chapman is well versed in the transition from AFL to NFL, having been signed as a punter by Green Bay in 2004 after he hung up his AFL boots in 2000.

He was given his marching orders after eight months with the Packers, only two weeks before the first game, but has since identified a hole in the market and is looking to use his technical knowledge to nurture young hopefuls.

Chapman will show videos of his proteges to college scouts and is confident four or five of them will be signed by Christmas.

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