From Chile to NFL?

Ex-Broward hoops standout gets shot at football via international program

When Sammis Reyes moved to South Florida from Chile when he was 14 years old, he had his eyes on a basketball career.

With plenty of Division I basketball scholarship offers in hand, it was a solid strategy.

But his 6-foot-5 frame made him a target of North Broward Prep’s football coaches.

“Everybody and their mother tried to convince me to play football,” Reyes said. “At my high school, every single coach [said], ‘Come on out, come on

out.’”

Reyes gave football practices a brief shot, but he decided to pursue basketball. He played at Palm Beach State and Tulane, but an NBA career never materialized.

Now the North Broward Prep alumnus is looking to football again, aiming to make an NFL practice squad through the league’s International Player Pathway Program.

“I wanted to go to the NBA; that was my dream my entire childhood, and of course it never happened,” Reyes said.

“So when I was 23, my current agent, my family and my close friends, they were like, ... ‘You’ve got to give this football thing a shot. You’re fast, you’re strong, you’re powerful.’ So my friends, my best friends, and everybody around me convinced me to give it a shot.”

Reyes was one of 11 international players chosen for the program.

The NFL will randomly select one division to receive the players, and each team can pick one player to join their practice squad after the preseason training camps.

Current Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Durval Queiroz Neto is a former member of the program.

Reyes, who now measures in at 6-feet-6 and 260 pounds, is looking to become an NFL tight end.

When he spent a week of high school football practice learning the game, he found that it came naturally to him.

“Back then, I was so big, they were like, ‘Let’s put you at defensive end.’ The game came so naturally to me. They were like, ‘You see that guy over there? Just go get him.’ ... Then they put me at tight end. I was always great with my hands, coming from basketball. I was taller than everybody, especially in high school. I just did great.

“But after a week, I was like, ‘You know what? I’ve got 20-plus Division I offers to play basketball. If I get hurt before my senior year, before my senior season in high school for basketball, these schools will drop me.’”

Reyes has been working on transitioning his body from basketball to football, working with a coach, Justin Kavanaugh, to get in shape.

“After the [first] workout, coach [Kavanaugh] was like, ‘Hey, man, you’ll be in the league. Let’s get you right,’” Reyes said. “So I started working out with him, and it’s every single day, we’re training at least six hours a day. Sunday is the one day I take off.

“But whether it’s speed work in the morning — like linear speed, lateral speed — then running routes in the afternoon, always a heavy lifting session. My life for the past year has been living in the gym and running and getting in the best shape of my life.”

Reyes said he thinks he’s well-prepared for the NFL, and he thinks it’s important for the NFL to have more international players among its ranks.

“There is so much talent outside of the boundaries of the U.S,” Reyes said. “There are other guys in the world that are 6-6, 6-7, can run, can catch, are strong.

“So it’s just a matter of going to find that talent. And the NFL, with this program that started in 2017, has done a great job reaching out to people.”

COURTESY Former North Broward Prep basketball player Sammis Reyes is looking to start a new career in the NFL.