Twelve years ago, Sebastian Vollmer showcased his raw talents before an intrigued group of US college coaches at the 2003 NFL Global Junior Championship (GJC), an event played annually in the Super Bowl host city between 1997 and 2007. Lining up for a Team Europe all-star squad against USA, Canada, Japan and Mexico, the Dusseldorf Panther offensive lineman secured a full scholarship to the University of Houston.
Werner playing for the Salisbury School in Connecticut as a senior (credit: Global Football)
The GJC was organized by Patrick Steenberge, whose Global Football company has enabled American football teams to travel the world since 1996. Five years later, Steenberge was helping more hopeful young American football standouts live out their dream of playing the sport they love at prep schools in the United States. His International Student Program brought the likes of Germans Bjoern Werner (Indianapolis Colts), Kasim Edebali (New Orleans Saints) and Curtis Feigt (WVU / Bengals preseason) to America.
This weekend, two of those Germans clash in the AFC Championship Game when Vollmer’s New England Patriots host Werner and the Indianapolis Colts.
Michael Preston (@PRMikePreston), a former NFL Europe PR staffer now running a sports PR consultancy out of Boston, spoke to Werner, Vollmer and two coaches who played key roles in their development for this story for NFL.com
(post link: https://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000459270/article/sebastian-vollmer-bjoern-werner-share-german-heritage-dream)