Samuel Vretman goes from club football in Sweden to the Big Ten

The latest addition to the Rutgers football program has a very different backstory than many of his future Scarlet Knight teammates. Growing in the suburban town of Upplands Väsby, just outside of Stockholm, Sweden, Samuel Vretman began his athletic career playing sports other than football.

“I grew up like any other normal family who lives in the suburbs. I have two brothers, both play sports,” said Vretman, who verbally committed to play college football at Rutgers University yesterday. “I played soccer in the beginning and then some ice hockey.”

Ice hockey was considered the choice sport in Vretman’s hometown, although he had other plans for his athletic future.

“One day, I just didn’t really want to play ice hockey anymore,” Vretman said. “It was a big deal when I quit hockey because it was a real competitive team I was on. I was not one of the best kids, but I definitely played and contributed to the team. I guess it was a bummer for the team. But I just didn’t feel like it was the thing for me anymore.”

One of the reasons Vretman bid farewell to his days on the ice rink was due to his affinity for the game of football.

“My dad played amateur football in the late 1980’s. I always liked football,” Vretman said. “I had a guy in one of my classes that wanted me to try out. So I joined the local football club and played organized football for about one and a half years.”

Youth football in Sweden was a bit different than it is in the United States.

“Football is not really big in Sweden. It is all on club levels,” Vretman said. “It is very unorganized and more of a hobby. The best athletes all play ice hockey and soccer.”

When it came to athletics, Vretman was no slouch and immediately flourished in the game of football.

“I always took to the physical and intensity parts of football,” Vretman said. “I would always go after people and push them on the ground."

The time for high school came around and Vretman continued his days of playing football in Sweden.

“I went to a high school that had football. It was more like a sports high school, where everything was sports related,” Vretman said. “They had a football program with coaches and everything. So we lifted in the winter and played football when it was not snowing outside. We started in March and went until the beginning of June.”

Vretman finished out his freshman campaign and then stumbled across a new kind of opportunity.

“A coach saw me and nominated me to the IFAF (International Federation of American Football) World Football Team. It is every country except Canada and Mexico and we put together a team to play the U.S. team,” Vretman explained. “I got into that development camp in Florida in January of 2014.”

That year, Vretman had more of a chance to pursue a future in football as he stayed in the U.S. as part of a student exchange student program. That allowed him to enroll in a high school in Idaho as he spent his sophomore year in the Pacific Northwest.

“Football conditioning was hard, having to deal with an up-tempo offense,” Vretman said. “But I started varsity at right tackle that year. We made it all the way to semifinals in the state game.”

With that move came an entire new way of life for Vretman, far away from everything he’d ever known.

“My parents supported me the whole time. They came over for a week just to make sure everything was right and met my host family,” Vretman said. “But then I didn’t see my parents again for about eight months. I didn’t see my brothers, my cousins and my grandmom for like 10 months.

“When I first came over, I was so excited to do all of this stuff. But after a while, it really struck me that I was on my own. It took some time to get used to. I think I managed pretty well. I really liked what high school was all about. Football was great. But the rest of the year there was some hard times. I did not really get along with my first host family that well. It just did not work out, so I changed host families and my second one was great.”

Vretman played through his sophomore year in Idaho, but rules would not permit him to remain at a public school.

“The only way I could play in the U.S. was to apply to a private school,” Vretman said.

That led to a journey across the country to Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut. Once more, Vretman embraced a new change.

“It has always been easy for me to adapt to different people and different situations and cultures. I also really like the U.S. culture so adapting was not too hard. There were moments when I really missed home, but it never got to the point where I regretted my decision.”

Vretman also had a strong support system from back home.

“My whole family and my close friends really helped me get through. Everybody was always there for me to talk,” Vretman said. “They were always there to help me. My head football coach also helped me get to the U.S. and find a host family. When that did not work out, he helped get me a new host family. We had a really good connection.”

Recruiting then came fast and furious this past year as Vretman pulled in a host of scholarship offers from major college football programs. Yesterday, he ended his recruitment when he formally announced that he’d accepted a full scholarship to Rutgers, where he will play college football in the prestigious Big Ten conference

As much as that was a personal accomplishment, Vretman is fully aware that his impact reaches far overseas.

“A lot of players and coaches are really happy with what I have done. I think I am able to show Swedish football players that anything is possible.”