He’s never played a minute of football.

But Louis Rees-Zammit, one of the world’s top young rugby stars, is walking away from his sport and homeland for a long-shot gamble at making it in the NFL. His announcement this week dropped like a bombshell in Britain — and now he’s intent on becoming a household name in the United States, too.

He knows just how slim his chances are, but that didn’t stop the 22-year-old Welshman and lifelong NFL fan. Nor have the howls of dismay from his nation’s fierce legion of rugby supporters — for whom Rees-Zammit is a favorite due to his extraordinary pace — nor the stinging criticism and even ridicule across Britain, where football (the American variety) is still battling for mainstream popularity.

“It’s definitely a narrow chance of success,” he told NBC News by phone Thursday, his first interview with an American publication since his decision. “Boys in America play the sport when they are 5 years old, they go through the ranks in high school and college, and they get to know the game from pretty young.”

He is entering the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program, or IPPP, an attempt by the sport’s governing body to increase the league’s player base beyond North America and attract talent around the world.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.