American football is a popular sport in North America, with many players competing to play in the National Football League, which is based in the United States. Football in American Samoa is generally played by the same rules as in the United States. As of 2010, the island has produced twenty-eight players who have played in the NFL; this number that has increased each year.[1]
History
Every year the number of high school graduates from American Samoa who go to play college football increases.[citation needed] In the recent past, the University of Hawaii was one of the only colleges that recruited players from American Samoa, with few exceptions. Today, schools such as BYU, Arizona, Wisconsin, USC, Stanford, Western Kentucky, UCLA, Cal, Texas Tech, Nevada, Tennessee-Chattanooga, and Washington send assistants to clinics that are held annually on the island.[1] There are several obstacles that discourage coaches from recruiting in American Samoa, primarily the remote location and expenses incurred. Another is that the majority of the American Samoan athletes struggle to meet the NCAA academic standards, due to localization issues such as language barriers, access to mainland education, and means of affordability.[1]