NFL GLOBAL JR. CHAMPIONSHIP IX

NFL GLOBAL JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP ALUMNI

The NFL Global Junior Championship has firmly established itself as a proving ground for future stars of college football and even the professional NFL ranks and boasts an impressive list of alumni from a relatively short history.

The performances of three-time tournament MVP German defensive end Constantin Ritzmann, who terrorised Mexican defences from 1997 to 1999, attracted the attention of several major colleges. The Team Europe standout eventually committed to then reigning collegiate champion Tennessee Volunteers and as a senior started for the Vols in 2003. Ritzmann made the roster of the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent this past NFL season.

Team mate and compatriot defensive back / wide receiver Claudius Osei followed suit by heading to Florida State and their success triggered a spate of similar stories. They alerted college coaches from across the country, who suddenly recognized the NFL Global Junior Championship as a valuable means of tapping a rich vein of otherwise inaccessible talent. Rather than attempt a costly and difficult scouting mission overseas, college coaches have foreign players from Europe, Japan, Mexico and Canada playing on their doorstep.

It is not only the visiting players who are making their mark. The triumphant USA quarterback in 2003 Richard Kovalcheck headed to Arizona after the championship in San Diego. He was one of many Team USA stars committed to the NCAA ranks. In Tampa Bay in 2001, seniors overlooked by college recruiters got the second crack at the whip they needed to be offered a letter of intent.

The Team USA roster that represented the New Orleans area in 2002 featured five players who went on to Louisiana State University, in defensive backs Vernon Russell and Troy Hankton, offensive lineman Garrett Wibel, running back Jason Spadoni and wide receiver Skyler Green.

Former Team Europe defensive back Lelan Brickus has won two World Bowl rings with the Berlin Thunder of NFL Europe and has played alongside the likes of St Louis Rams wide receiver Dane Looker.

German defensive back Richard Yancy, once of Team Europe is now a member of the San Francisco 49ers practice squad having also played in NFL Europe for the Rhein Fire. Other European players have gone on to college scholarships at a range of schools such as Eastern Illinois, Nebraska, Toledo, Iowa State and San Mateo.

Canada boasts an impressive list of graduates, including quarterback Mike Faulds, whose heroic performances in the NFL Global Junior Championship VI and VII helped earn him a place at Toledo. Fellow teammates from 2003 offensive lineman Richard Zulys and linebacker Danny Bass are now at UCF and Northern Michigan respectively, while offensive lineman David Bouchard committed to Syracuse on the strength of his performances in Houston last year.

There are more than 30 former Team Canada stars playing in colleges north of the border as many again in NCAA action in the United States at schools including Boston College, Stanford, Columbia, Duke, Kentucky and Indiana State. Mexican quarterback Cesar Sanchez impressed in Houston, enough to land a place at a AAA school in Quebec.

Recruiters and scouts from an increasing number of colleges big and small will be watching the NFL Global Junior Championship IX closely, hoping they can themselves unearth a gem to add to the growing list of successful graduates.