AFL Academy member Nick O'Kearney will join Essendon when they return to training later this week as the squad ramps up preparations for their tour of America.

Members of the NAB AFL Academy wil be embedded at AFL clubs across the country this week ahead of their 10-day high performance camp, which begins on Saturday when the squad flies to Tampa in Florida.

It is the second stint the 35 level-two players have had at respective clubs, after all of them trained at an AFL club for a week in December. 

The players have been sent to different clubs this week in what continues to be an important aspect of the academy's program, allowing the prospects to get an insight into the top level and recruiters a first-hand look at the players in an elite environment. 

Having travelled to Europe for the past several years as part of the international component of their partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport, the AFL will head to the US for the first time with the academy, which no longer is affiliated with the AIS.

The team will spend a week of intense training at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, a private institute for amateur and professional athletes. 

It runs tennis, American football, soccer, baseball, basketball, golf and other development programs, and will host the emerging AFL players for the first time. 

After Tampa, the squad will travel to Orlando for the recovery phase of the camp, including attending an NBA game. 

In a restructure of the academy program, the international tour was brought forward from April to January so that the players' seasons were not interrupted. 

Instead, in April the academy group will meet in Melbourne for a camp, where it's expected they will play two games against VFL teams.