The happy news about his chance to earn a spot in the National Football League (NFL) reached German football player Felix Lepper in a most inconvenient situation. “I was just changing trains at the station. Just before I got on the train, my cell phone rang,” the 23-year-old from Hesse revealed in an interview with SID about his nomination for the International Player Pathway Program (IPP), whose roster was officially announced by the NFL on Monday.

As an offensive tackle, Lepper is one of 13 athletes from around the world who will spend ten weeks in Florida starting in January preparing to showcase their skills in front of NFL club scouts. “Every one of us wants to make it to the NFL. That’s what connects us. To put it bluntly, we’re all working our asses off to achieve that,” said Lepper, who previously played for the Hamburg Sea Devils in the European League of Football (ELF).

German Jakob Johnson once made it to the New England Patriots through the development program. Last year, offensive tackle Leander Wiegand (currently under contract with the New York Jets), tight end Maximilian Mang (New York Giants), and kicker Lenny Krieg (Atlanta Falcons) participated in the program. “Things for the mental game that I need to prepare for” were given to Lepper, who is determined to seize his opportunity: “I can now say with confidence that my goal is the NFL.”

At the beginning of his career, the 6-foot-9 offensive tackle had very different ambitions when he laid the foundation with the Göttingen Generals. “I knew nothing about football. I originally went there because I just wanted to do a sport that would help me lose weight,” said Lepper.