Sports
Tufts study confirms NESCAC football players still football players
By Levi Lorenzo ’19
September 15, 2016
Tags sports
Recently, researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine performed a study in which they tracked the weight of NESCAC football players from 1956 to 2014. The key findings of the study were as follows: the average weight of offensive linemen in the conference increased almost 38 percent across the 59 years studied. In comparison, the average 20-29 year-old male in 2014 weighed 12 percent more than the average male of 1956. Skill position players (i.e. quarterbacks, wide receivers, kickers and defensive backs) experienced a change in weight that did not represent a statistically significant difference from the change in the general population; meanwhile defensive linemen and tight ends grew at similar rates to offensive linemen. While there was an overall increase in the height of offensive linemen, likely due to a higher level of competition in recruiting, the increase was small (3.8 percent); the average body mass index (BMI) of the offensive linemen studied was just 26 in 1956 but was approaching 34 when studied in 2014.
While this trend may surprise some, many people would not need this study to recognize its occurrence. One clear takeaway from this study is that athletics plays a more prominent role in the lives of NESCAC student-athletes than some may want to recognize. The fact that the weights of football players, particularly linemen, are increasing is old news: what makes this study different is that it studied Division III athletes, specifically NESCAC players, whereas previous studies focused almost exclusively on the Division I and professional levels. It is hardly surprising that the same trends are occurring in the NESCAC, even though athletics supposedly takes a backseat to academics in this conference. This study merely serves to solidify the notion that the NESCAC does not always exist in the athletic bubble that many think it does, and as much as it may attempt to discourage the prioritization of athletics, athletics is the top of many players’ priorities. Players gain weight oftentimes sacrificing both their health and appearance to succeed on the field, even though the majority will never step back on the field after gradutaion. For NESCAC football players, football is not a career path but rather it is a passion; players play for the love of the game and their teammates, and these factors are more than enough motivation for athletes to do whatever is necessary (sometimes including illegal activites) for individual and team success on the field. For coaches, football is a profession, and the recruitment and development of larger players is part of their job.
The NESCAC would like to believe that it is a conference where academics are the clear priority with sports as a distant second.The Conference prides itself on its emphasis on academics relative to other Division III conferences, and especially those in Division I. That many Division I athletes could not care less about academics is well known. In 2012, Ohio State quarterback (and undergraduate student), Cardale Jones, famously tweeted that football players should not have had to attend class because “...[football players]ain’t come here[college] to play school.” While this quote seems laughable, for many athletes, even in the NESCAC, this sentiment is not too far off from how they actually feel. There is a significant contingent of NESCAC student-athletes that views athletics as the number one priority; academics is sometimes seen as a mere nuisance that must be taken care of in order to maintain eligibiltiy to play sports.
Offensive linemen are getting bigger because football requires that they do, and for most NESCAC athletes, football is high enough on their list of priorities that that requirement takes precedence to other concerns. While some may view this as short-sighted, they, and I, view it as sacrificing to achieve a goal.
The authors of the study feel that the increasing occurrence of high body weight and BMI athletes, “is concerning due to the risk factors for adverse health consequences” that heavier athletes may face later in life. The study suggests specific, coordinated efforts to ensure the health of these players after their playing days are over; the authors recommend the creation of “Programs directed at reversing high body weights and BMI in players’ postcollege lives” but such a focus seems unnecessary. America has an obesity epidemic and general efforts to combat obesity in the larger population, or even the whole population of a school, are likely a better use of resources than focusing on the small percentage of the population that once played offensive line at the collegiate level. I see no need to focus anti-obesity efforts on former football players.
Similar studies at the Division I and professional levels associated the increased weight of players with increased occurrence of various diseases, and the authors of the study believe that similar associations would be seen in the NESCAC if they were studied. This is hardly news: the knowledge that obesity is associated with numerous ailments is widespread. If anything, former athletes who are still young, are in good cardiovascular shape and have received fitness and nutrition information through their sport should require less assistance than the general population in combating obesity and related illnesses.
Many see the rapid increase in body weight amongst football linemen as negative and the study’s authors view the trend as “concerning.” I, however, see no issue with athletes, in the prime of their lives, taking completely ethical measures to better themselves in their sport, so long as they are aware of the steps that need to be taken to remain healthy when their playing days end.
The job of an offensive lineman is to move defenders, who are far from small themselves, and, quite frankly, mass moves mass. Gaining weight while following a well-constructed strength training program is one of the best ways for an offensive lineman to improve his game. To many, gaining excess weight for the sake of improving sports performance may not seem worth the trade-off, but to these people football is just a game. To those of us who play, this sport is much more than that. Football molds men; it changes lives. Football is an integral part of who every football player is: even in the NESCAC, members of the football team are not mere students who happen to play the sport, they are football players through and through. While they excel in the classroom as well, for football players, football is a top priority.
Gaining weight is a small price to pay for success in what is, for many, the most important realm of their life. Plus, who would turn down a license to eat as much as one wants?