From South London to the NFL Draft - Meet Seydou Traore

Seydou Traore first discovered football while watching Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora's weekly NFL show on British television. Years later, he is vying to become their latest subject of analysis. The Mississippi State tight end, who was born in France but raised in the UK, will proudly represent South London this week when he enters the 2026 NFL Draft as the latest face of football's international reach. He is a picture of calm when you speak to him, with a serene laser-focus and a grounded demeanour rarely prone to carried-away oversight or the kind of gushy sentiment that typically and understandably oozes during Draft week. But even he admits that could change should he hear his name announced to mark a milestone moment in his unlikely footballing journey."It's definitely going to be a special moment," Traore tells Sky Sports. "I'm not the most emotional over calls and all that stuff, but there'll definitely be an emotional moment." Seahawks' Smith-Njigba signs record $42m-a-year dealCommanders and Jags to play 2026 NFL London gamesSuper Bowl MVP Walker signs with Chiefs Live NFL Draft Friday 24th April 1:00am YouTube This content is provided by YouTube, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable YouTube cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to YouTube cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow YouTube cookies for this session only. His route to this point has been indifferent. Once upon a time he was catching footballs as a goalkeeper and one of countless young Brits dreaming of a career in soccer - now he is cradling them as a tight end. The fields and parks of South London have meanwhile become that of Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi while forging a winding career in college football. "I picked up American football pretty late into my teenage years," said the 23-year-old. "The first time playing it was with London Warriors, they were about 10 minutes away from my house. "I grew up in South London, in Westmoreland and fell in love with the sport. Before then I was playing soccer, rugby, basketball, anything I could really get my hands on or that the school was offering."Soccer was the game for me before football, but once I started football, I ended up playing at the NFL Academy for a year, and that was around COVID, before leaving to go to Clearwater Academy in Florida."Traore managed 26 catches for 433 yards and three touchdowns in one season at Clearwater, and was ranked as a three-star prospect before committing to play college football at Arkansas State University."Playing American football in London, only other people that play in London kind of understand the path or how big the sport is overseas," says Traore."Explaining it to my family that I'm going to travel halfway across the world to go and play football. They're just kind of relying on me to have belief in myself, to be honest, because they didn't really understand what the sport was, how it's played."It was just me kind of telling them this and this is what I'm going to do. And they just had that trust in me that I've always been a determined guy. They knew that if I set my path on something, I'll chase it." Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only. He was named First-Team All-Sun Belt after leading the conference in tight end catches in his first year at Arkansas, amassing 62 receptions for 752 yards and four touchdowns across two seasons before transferring to the University of Colorado.Traore then made the decision to re-enter the transfer portal after one semester at Colorado, landing with Mississippi State.It would perhaps be on the final stop of his college journey that the enormity of his opportunity truly hit home."In terms of family, last year was the first year they had come out to the States during the 2025 season, and we had a few big games that they were happy enough to attend to, but I think that was when it kind of sunk in with the stage on which college football is playing," he said."When I tell them I'm playing in university sports, it doesn't really do enough justice for how big college sports in America is. Them coming over, it was an eye opener."There was a few moments where I was like, damn, this is insane. I'd say one of the first moments was when I was at Arkansas State and we played at Ohio State. And that was my first time being in and playing in a game that there's like 100,000-plus people in the stands."That was kind of a surreal moment. That was kind of my first moment of 'wow, I'm here'." Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only. If the transatlantic gap between the UK and US college opportunities was not already complex and unconventional enough, Traore was dealt another hurdle when he was forced to sit out the 2023 season due to NCAA transfer rules after his brief stint in Colorado.There had been the prospect of teaming up with Colorado head coach Deion Sanders in addition to two-position superstar Travis Hunter, now of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It was not to be, and while the move may have extended his wait, it would also shape the character now primed to enter the NFL."It just kind of reinforced everything that I knew about myself in terms of like, I'm always going to chase an opportunity and I'm always going to grab it with two hands," he said."So just because the opportunity isn't this week or next week or any of these weeks, because I'm not playing this season, it doesn't mean that there's not going to be an opportunity next year."It was all just about preparation, but also just reminding myself why I'm here. I'm not here to just stay in my dorms and sleep and sulk because I'm not playing this year. It really makes you dig deep and remember your purpose."Traore heads into the Draft as a product of the inaugural cohort of NFL Academy players when the programme was first launched in Barnet back in 2019.It has been a tale of diversions, one that has offered exposure to the contrasting environments of Arkansas and Mississippi compared to the bustle and skyscrapers of home."I'm still the same person, with most of the same traits, but I guess being in the South for the past five years, it's just a completely different way of life than it is to London," he said."I'm in what I would call the countryside. So I guess it kind of taught me a more peaceful way of life. I feel like it's a much slower pace. II guess it did teach me more tranquillity." Twitter This content is provided by Twitter, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Twitter cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Twitter cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Twitter cookies for this session only. He speaks every bit like a man living in tranquillity ahead of the biggest moment in his young career."You just have to keep knocking sometimes, keep trying different doors, because something will open. When it opens, step inside and see what's there for you," he said on NFL UK's documentary of his story.Traore leaves college having produced 126 catches for 1,402 yards and 10 touchdowns, five of his scores arriving last season.During his time at Mississippi State he would afford himself a moment after practice to look up at pictures of the school's NFL Alumni on the wall of the team's indoor facility, imagining of one day joining them.He shall do so while never forgetting where it all began."I always remember my roots and remember where I grew up and how I grew up," he says. "I feel like it's important for the people back home to maybe feel a bit inspired, feel like it's possible."Because those same grass fields right next to my house, I was running routes on those same hills."The environment I put myself in when I was back home in London reminds me a lot where I started and how far I've come. I definitely remember my roots. And I definitely want kids, adults, anyone to be honest, to feel like anything's possible, take that risk and go chase it."My message would be, if you care for something deep enough, go chase it. Don't listen to the ifs, buts and maybes. If you feel it deep in your heart, then it's possible."Watch all three days of the 2026 NFL Draft live on Sky Sports, with Day One under way from 1am in the early hours of Friday morning.