For Australian sportsmen, the path to the NFL has been well-worn over the years since the groundbreaking days of Colin Ridgeway, Colin Scotts and Darren Bennett.
But as Jarryd Hayne leaves the Parramatta Eels to follow his dream of playing gridiron in the United States, he must know going in there is no guarantee of success in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
List of Australians in the NFL
College football in the US plays the same role as the under-18 system does for AFL and the under-20s competition does for the NRL.
Thousands of players come out of college every year eligible to try their luck in the NFL draft, and in latter years an increasing number of international hopefuls do the same, largely through auditions or tryouts with NFL teams seeking a place on the roster.
The first Australian to play in the NFL was athlete Colin Ridgeway, who competed for Australia in high jump at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and the 1958 Commonwealth Games (then the British Empire and Commonwealth Games) in Cardiff.
He had played VFL at reserve level for Carlton without ever making the seniors, before going to the US and playing three games as a punter for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s.
Colin Scotts played rugby union for Australia at schoolboy level, but then went to America on a football scholarship with the University of Hawaii. He would play seven games for at defensive end and tight end for the Arizona Cardinals.
PHOTO: Darren Bennett's move from the AFL to the NFL was the catalyst for a number of footballers to try for a second career in the US. (Getty Images.)
Ridgeway proved to be the first of many players with Australian rules skills to try their luck as a punter - the AFL-style of drop-punt kick dovetailed with the punter position, where a player receives the ball and kicks it away in the face of onrushing defenders.
Full-forward Darren Bennett, who kicked 219 goals for Melbourne and West Coast in the AFL, tried out for the San Diego Chargers and started his American football career playing for the Amsterdam Admirals in the now-defunct NFL Europe competition.
He ended up playing for a decade in the NFL, making two Pro Bowls and was named in the NFL's 1990s All-Decade team. His success was the catalyst for a number of AFL players to follow his lead and head to the NFL in search of a second career.
Brothers Anthony and Saverio Rocca from Collingwood both tried out and although Anthony returned home without playing a game, Saverio went on to play more than 100 games for the Philadelphia Eagles as a punter.
Geelong defender Ben Graham quit AFL in 2004 to tryout for the New York Jets. He would become the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl, playing for Arizona in the Cardinals' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Carlton and Collingwood player Chris Bryan played a handful of games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while SANFL player David King was signed to the New England Patriots without playing a game.
Other AFL players to try out unsuccessfully included Nick Davis from the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne superstar Wayne Carey.
College option increasingly popular with Australian hopefuls
More recently, as professional sports cast their eyes ever further afield in search of talent, Australians are increasingly looking to take the college option as a better hope of making it to the pros.
Mat McBriar earned a football scholarship with the University of Hawaii, and made his full NFL debut for the Dallas Cowboys in 2004, going on to play 138 games for various NFL teams.
Jumping ahead to this decade, Brad Wing earned a scholarship with LSU in Louisiana, before going undrafted and being signed later by the Philadelphia Eagles. He bounced around a couple of teams before landing a spot on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster for 2014.
More on this story:
Jarryd Hayne quits NRL for NFL
Eels and NRL could not stop Hayne
Hayne the latest Aussie to seek NFL career
Social media reacts to Hayne's decision
Hayne announces decision to quit: video
Hayne's NRL career in pictures: gallery
Wilko says league shocked by Hayne: video
Jesse "Tha Monstar" Williams has become the most famous of all, going from playing local gridiron in Brisbane to junior college play for Arizona Western College and then a scholarship to play at the powerhouse college football team the University of Alabama.
Williams, who can play as a defensive tackle or defensive end, played 26 games over two seasons for Alabama before putting his name forward for the NFL draft in 2013.
Originally tipped to be a prestigious first-round pick, Williams was ignored by teams until his selection in the fifth round by the Seattle Seahawks.
He missed the entire 2013 season through a knee injury, but although he was left on the injured reserve list, Williams still became the first Australian to win a Super Bowl ring when the Seahawks battered the Denver Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Aside from Williams and Wing, the other current hope of cracking the NFL is Tom Hornsey, who won the Ray Guy Award for college punter of the year in 2013 at the University of Memphis.
He played two games in the 2014 preseason with the Dallas Cowboys, but was waived and is currently without a team.
Hayne faces big challenge to achieve NFL dream
PHOTO: Parramatta Eels star Jarryd Hayne wipes tears away while announcing he is leaving rugby league to pursue a career in American football. (Brett Hemmings: Getty Images)
The bottom line is that there are plenty of misses along with the hits among Australian NFL tryouts and as Hayne has acknowledged, making it in the league will be no easy task.
The timing of his announcement means he cannot hope to make an NFL roster this year - Hayne himself says he has a "12-month plan".
This means that all of 2015 - at least - will be devoted to trying to make the grade.
The Eels superstar says he sees his best chance of making the cut as a kick returner or punt returner, where his pure movement and speed will come in handy.
His perfect American football position that would be closer to his NRL role would be in an attacking position as a running back or full-back, but these positions require so much knowledge of team game-plans that it would make a successful transition extremely difficult.
Either way, his decision to exit the NRL at the peak of his powers as the game's reigning best-and-fairest makes him the highest profile player in recent years to try his luck.
Whether he succeeds or fails, it will be a big story - and the Parramatta Eels will no doubt be hoping that they can make the headlines again in 2016 with a possible return of the "Hayne Train" to the NRL.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-...alian-sportsmen-chasing-the-nfl-dream/5815600
So many try but not many make it
Ryan Hoffman @RyanHoffman12
