Thomas Schaffer didn’t just have to convince his mother to let him play football like most kids; he had to convince her to let him play football half way around the world.

Schaffer and his family live in Vienna, Austria, but the 2016 lineman got a taste for what American football is like in 2012 when he traveled to Texas with the Under 19 Austrian team.

“I was 15 and we played against Panama, Team USA and Japan. When we played I just loved playing, even though I was the youngest guy there,” he said. “It was just a great feeling and I decided then that I wanted to do this on a higher level.”

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So Schaffer went back to Austria and told his mother he would travel to America for one year to pursue his new dream. Because academics are very important to the family, and because Shaffer would be traveling alone, he needed to find the right school.

The family found Lake Forest Academy in Illinois, which ranks highly on the academic side and also has a dormitory for its students to live. The only problem was once Shaffer got to his new home, he didn’t want to leave.

“I told my mom that I was going for one year and then it worked out that I said it was really good here and I asked if I could stay longer,” he said. “So it’s turned out to be three years. Next year will be my third year and it’s been very productive so far.”

Productive to say the least. Schaffer, who is not just new to the game, but new to the country, currently holds 18 scholarship offers from some of the biggest schools around the country including Cal, Nebraska, Oregon, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Wisconsin.

The first offer came from Illinois in June 2014. His head coach didn’t tell him until his junior year, though, and the news came as a huge shock. When he told his mother and sent her a link to all his recruiting profile pages, she didn’t really understand what it meant.

When he sent the links and news to his friends back home, who also played football, they were just as shocked as he was.

The offer from the Illini was a big deal, but there was one offer in particular that still stands out to the 6-foot-6, 245-pound lineman.

“There are three big schools in Austria: LSU, Alabama and Oregon. Nick Saban at Alabama and Oregon just because they have swag,” he said. “Oregon was the first team I’ve known about and the coach said they wanted to get in front of me, but I was in Austria for the winter. I sent him some mail and then I called him and they offered me as soon as I got back. It was amazing.”

While his mother is now a little more familiar with the recruiting process, it’s still all very new to the family. The decision to let their son travel alone to a new country was difficult, but one thing is for sure: Schaffer won’t have to do any more convincing for his mother to let him play football in America.