USA Football

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One graduate of the USA Football International Student Program (ISP) won team honors at the collegiate level this season and another scored points in an NCJAA bowl game, as the initiative continued to produce success stories after three years of nurturing international football talent.

The ISP, which kicked off in 2006, enables overseas football prospects to live their dream of playing ‘American' football while studying at U.S. prep schools. Student-athletes from six countries - Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Mexico - have benefitted from the program, which helped 12 players from three continents find suitable prep schools in five states in 2008.

Germany's Ruben Austin-Schmidt, who first played junior football for his hometown Dusseldorf Panther and the German Junior National Team, was a redshirt freshman at Pace University in New York this fall. The former Kimball Union Academy (N.H.) standout won the team's Practice Player of the Year defensive award for his contribution to the team's season.

Austin-Schmidt did not play during the Setters' 4-6 campaign, but the safety's dedication and intense attitude on the practice field saw him recognized by coach Mike Iezzi.

"It was a great honor for all my hard work," Austin-Schmidt said."The Pace football season was really good and a lot of fun, and since I got redshirted, all I focused on was getting better and being a tougher player.

"People actually started thinking I had personal issues with our running backs because I hit them so hard, but I told them that I was trying to make the team better and also improve myself. After a while, all the running backs started running the ball really hard and thanked me many times in practice for what I was doing for them."

Austin-Schmidt now has his heart set on becoming a regular fixture on the Pace defense next fall, but just as he did as a member of the ISP, he will also take care of his academic studies and aims to be just as successful off the football field.

"I learned a lot and can't wait to put back my pads on," he said. "Coach expects that next year I can become a starter and a leader of this defense as a strong safety and also as a freshman on the field, which could give me four years as a starter in college football.

"I hope I am also getting better in the classroom. I want to be a starter and lead the team; I want to start setting a good ground for going pro one day and classroom-wise, I have almost all As and Bs. The only class I'm struggling in is psychology."

One of Austin-Schmidt's NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Conference) opponents in 2007 was Chinese kicker Long Ding, who kicked and played on the defensive line at the New Hampton School in New Hampshire. Long spent this fall football season kicking for Dean College, whose 10-0 regular season record earned the Bulldogs an NJCAA bowl game appearance.

Long, who hails from Qingdao, gave Dean College an early 3-0 lead in the Graphic Edge Bowl by converting a first quarter field goal against Iowa Central Community College in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He became the first ISP graduate to play in a college bowl game and also the first to score postseason points.

The freshman at Dean College, a two-year program in Franklin, Mass., also converted an extra point, but missed a third quarter field goal as his team went down 20-10.

Long enjoyed a very successful season at Dean College, as he completed 36-of-42 extra point attempts and made three field goals, with the longest from 42 yards, for a total 45 points - the fourth highest on the team. He also received Special Teams Player of the Week honors for his performance against New Haven as he scored six of the team's 13 points on two field goals from 38 yards and 42 yards, and the Bulldogs went on to win 13-0.

"I think my football skills are good, even for Division I," Long said. "I just have never had the chance to talk to coaches. Hopefully being here will help."

During his post-graduate year at the New Hampton School, Long took on more roles than just kicker. He emerged as a defensive end and offensive tackle and recorded two tackles in the first game of the 2007 season for the Huskies.

New Hampton finished the 2007 season 5-3 with Long, who had never kicked in a competitive game before arriving in the United States, having a remarkable rookie season, completing 21-of-26 extra point attempts and 6-of-8 field goals. His longest field goal of that season was from 38 yards out. Defensively, he collected 19 tackles with six tackles for a loss of yards and had three sacks.

Long will look to build on his success next season with the Dean College Bulldogs and hopes that his efforts will help him fulfill his dream of playing top-level college football.

This fall, another former ISP member, Timm Kaminski from Kiel, Germany, was a redshirt freshman on the football team of American International College in Springfield, Mass.

Three current ISP student athletes have verbally committed to play college football in 2009. Kasim Edebali (Hamburg, Germany) aims to play at Boston College and his teammate at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, Kevin Gangelhoff (Odense, Denmark), has pledged his future to the University of New Hampshire. Heading to West Virginia is Curtis Feigt (Schonefeld, Germany) of Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania.