American football stars who escaped gangs, drugs and crime in some of the United States’ toughest neighbourhoods arrived in Tottenham on Tuesday to seek out British teenagers who might follow their path to gridiron fame.

They watched as 120 boys from across the UK underwent trials at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for places at a new NFL academy in north London that will offer further education and coaching in America’s most popular sport.

It is the latest phase of the NFL’s UK expansion strategy, which is expected to culminate in the establishment of the first overseas team in London. It will also test whether the sometimes controversial sport can provide a route out of poverty in the UK as it has done in the US, particularly for young black people who make up a disproportionate number of professionals.

Looking on as the boys were put through 40-yard dashes, shuttle runs and jumping tests were Tahir Whitehead, 29, a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders who saw a friend shot while growing up in New Jersey, and Mario Addison, who grew up in Alabama surrounded by, in his words, “drugs, crime and gangs” and who now plays for the Carolina Panthers.

“It reminds me of back when I was their age,” said Whitehead. “I was growing up seeing people doing drugs. You are hearing about friends getting shot on the way to school, someone’s mom getting car-jacked, someone dropping out of school and dealing drugs to help their family. I was on my way to football and I saw one of my friends get shot down.”

Addison, who grew up in the Vice Hill projects in Birmingham, Alabama, said: “I didn’t grow up with a dad so I always used my coaches as male influences.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A triallist is put through his paces at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Photograph: Sean Ryan/Getty Images

Their experiences were a beacon for many of those trialling for a place at the new academy, which will be based at Barnet and Southgate College. Rami Miller, 18, from Brixton, his brother Tah-Jae, 17, and their friend Walter Goncalves, 18, were attending after seeing an advert on Snapchat. They all saw the sport as “a way out”.

“There’s poverty in my area and sport is one of the few ways out,” Miller said. “There’s a lot of gang-affiliated youth. If you don’t make it in sport or education, you are trapped in the system.”

Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK, said the story of Efe Obada, a London-raised player who was signed by the Panthers and had a breakthrough season last year, was “exhibit A” for what the programme could achieve.

Obada, 27, was born in Nigeria, trafficked to London with his sister aged 10 and left homeless in Hackney. They were in foster care in south London where Obada became caught up in gangs. While in his teens three friends were killed. He said the programme was an opportunity to escape.

“When I was growing up there were no role models and youth clubs were being shut down,” he said. “It only took one role model to change my life.”

That role model was Aden Durde, then coach of the London Warriors, a Croydon-based team where Obada started playing. “I had a lot of frustrations with life and I went to the Warriors and it helped me,” he said. “I ran as fast as I could and hit as hard as I could. Some people play angry.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Left to right: Mario Addison of the Carolina Panthers, Cameron Brate of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Akiem Hicks of the Chicago Bears. Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP

The NFL has suffered from a disconnect between its mainly black playing staff and its largely white ownership and administration. It has been wracked by rows over its handling of racial equality since the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled for the national anthem in protest at police brutality against the black community. There are also ongoing concerns about the impact of concussions on players’ long-term health.

American football is disproportionately played by black people, who account for 48% of top-level college football players and 69% of those in the NFL. The US population is 13% black. A 2018 study by Mississippi State University found black football players came from towns that were more socioeconomically disadvantaged than the national average.

There are signs that the trend could be repeated in the UK. Half of all the nine- to 12-year-olds playing in the NFL’s non-contact programme in cities including Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Portsmouth are from ethnic minorities, according to Jason Brisbane, who runs the programme for the NFL.

But those issues were not in the teenagers’ thoughts on Tuesday. Many were starstruck by the presence of JuJu Smith-Schuster, a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He gave them a pep talk in a huge dressing room beneath the stands specially designed for the NFL’s 53-man squads. He drew them into a circle around him and told them to seize the moment and enjoy it, before cueing up a track by the rapper Sheck Wes on the sound system and telling them: “We’re going to have to get litty!”

As the music kicked in, a floor-shaking mosh erupted and the hyped-up players headed out on to the pitch for a trial that could change their life.