College Football

Dyslexic Untied

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So, they show this quite often on pay TV here in Norway, and I tend to watch it cause I like sports. I find that the games often are better than the NFL games, probably because I don`t know squat about American Football, but still, it`s fun and fast to watch.

Couple of questions though.

1. How old are the players in College Football. Don`t say they`re in college, cause I don`t want to look up what the age limits in colleges are.

2. How many of these guys make the NFL?

3. Those who don`t, what do they do? Do you have anything under the NFL?

4. Steroids, these kids look like they`re on them, are they?
 
I only watch NFL so I can only answer one question.

Not many of them make it..

and I assume, seeming as they are at college doing degrees that answers what they do when they dont make it.

The idea of football under the NFL would be Arena Football. Basically indoor version of the game, but there have been notable examples of players being rejected by NFL teams, plying their trade in Arena football and then being picked up by NFL sides at a later date.

A key example of this is Kurt Warner, two time MVP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Warner

They used to have NFL Europe which they would farm younger/non-first teamers to, but thats gone now.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Why don`t you watch it though? Is the quality not good enough? I guess you can pick up on that, I don`t know the sport well enough so I can`t.
 
To be honest I don't know why I haven't paid it much attention, I've only been watching NFL for about 3 years.. and i find it hard enough to keep up with what with the awkward times and so.

I've watched a few college games and they seem a similar standard, I just think my head might explode if i attempted to keep pace with both forms.
 
I've never really watched college football, but I watch NFL every now and again when it is on.

The thing that amazes me is that don't some of the college teams have bigger stadia than some England's league teams?
 
They are usually 17-23 years in age. The passion of the fans at games and around the bars and couches in America for a college gridiron football game is the closest the US comes to the passion of a football match. The intensity of say Michigan vs Ohio State or Texas vs Oklahoma is very similar to that of say a local derby or a traditional rival like United vs Liverpool.

There's strict drug testing in the NCAA but I'm sure some find ways to hide drugs. But on the whole I think the NCAA is quite clean. However, you never know with HGH. College football training programs are world class especially at the bigger schools. An old classmate of mine was sort of a lard ass in high school though a quality defensive/offensive lineman. He was about 6'4, 270lbs of some muscle, plenty of fat, but sort of "country big." He came back after his freshman year at Stephen F Austin University and was a rock solid 280lbs. Guy was a beast full of muscle with about 10% body fat.

I'd say less than 1% make it to the NFL. You're talking about 120 Division I schools and an average of about 80 players per school (schools like Texas have about 100-120 on the roster but only about 60-80 can dress for road or home games). 80 x 120 = 9,600. Yet there are three (or four) more divisions and the junior college level as well. Every year the NFL draft has about 250 selections plus each team will sign about 15 undrafted players thereafter. But maybe 1/3 will make the club that year.

As for other leagues, there's not much outside Arena leagues which has temporarily ceased operations for 2009 and the Canadian league. There are some semi-pro leagues around the country I've heard about but don't know if they exist or not. The US Armed Forces has a full-contact league in Europe and the Far East; Derrick Rodgers, former Miami Dolphin, earned a college scholarship playing in this league.
 
Forgot to check up on this.

Thanks for the replies, especially MrMarcello, very nice input and a lot of interesting stuff.

Thinking about it, it must be tough for all the kids who train that hard, and get to be such excellent athletes at college level (like you say, the training is world class) and then go full stop on their careers if they don`t get drafted. For football, even though I never made it pro, I can always play for a third or fourth divison side (in Norway) and get to train and play the sport I love.


Keeping on with American football. I see the Superbowl is coming up soon, and as the gloryhunter I am I`ve decided to pick a team to "support" up to that point. My roomates have chosen Eagles and Steelers. I`m going with the Ravens, since they`re from Baltimore... as The Wire is. Do you think they have any chance of beating Steelers in the "semi"?
 
100-120 players per squad?

That's ridiculous but unsurprising given that there's not much skill involved in the sport.
 
Psmith said:
100-120 players per squad?

That's ridiculous but unsurprising given that there's not much skill involved in the sport.
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What do you mean by not much skill, Psmith. Care to elaborate?

Also, what relation does the supposed lack of skill have with the squad size?
 
I've zero knowledge of ice hockey but I know it involves skill. It's quite obvious to see. The only skill involved in American football is the quarter back throwing the ball and to a certain extent the bloke who runs and catches it. The majority of the other players are responsible for blocking, tackling and simply running which doesn't take much skill especially when these players are physically huge.

Having 100-120 players in a squad for every team suggests that there are lot of players with a similar level of skill and if there are so many players like that it doesn't take much to succeed.
 
1) Standard age of college students is 18-22. If you are born late in the year you might be 17 for a couple months.

2) Not many, there are 32 NFL teams with 53 man active rosters + practice rosters. Hundreds get drafted every year, the majority of them never make it beyond practice teams.

3) There is the CFL (Canadian League) fair number go to Canada but there is even less opportunity. Most are done after college.

4) Some are yes absolutely. NCAA testing however is pretty stringent so it is not that many. You are looking at kids who have been lifting weights seriously since they hit puberty and have been on very specialized regimes late in high school and early on in college. It is not uncommon for kids to go to college as 180 pound linebackers and in a year and a half put on 40+ pounds of muscle due to better training and proper nutrition and supplementing.
 
Psmith said:
I've zero knowledge of ice hockey but I know it involves skill. It's quite obvious to see. The only skill involved in American football is the quarter back throwing the ball and to a certain extent the bloke who runs and catches it. The majority of the other players are responsible for blocking, tackling and simply running which doesn't take much skill especially when these players are physically huge.

Having 100-120 players in a squad for every team suggests that there are lot of players with a similar level of skill and if there are so many players like that it doesn't take much to succeed.
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The bloated rosters are only in college, and there is a reason for the rosters being so massive.

You have first team players, second team players, third team players, practice players. You have to be able to carry out full team scrimmages. For example, there will be an OP offensive squad, whose job it is to practice against the first team defense every day of the week and to mimic the upcoming oppositions tendencies. There is also an OP defense which do the same thing for the offense. Usually these teams are two deep because they prep the second team as well.

You are looking at a 4 year rate of turn over. Usually players actually play their final two years, so their first two years unless they are spectacular are spent as understudies. If you did not carry these players giving them practice time against the current first team they would simply not be ready or competitive.

In terms of skill, every position in Football requires skill and sometimes extremely specific intricate skill sets. Linemen have to have EXTREMELY coordinated feet. They have to have massive balance and agility for people who can weight in excess of 300 pounds. They need to have specific techniques for blocking or shedding blocks. Their footwork is paramount. If you're big and strong as a bull but can't move your feet you're worthless.

Running backs have to be able to read the field. They have to be extremely fast, extremely powerful, or extremely agile. Like reading the weakness in a rock face, running backs have to find the line of weakness in a defense to exploit a hole or gap.

Linebackers play the same way on the defensive side of the ball. In addition to having sometimes quite complex defensive instructions to follow.

Football is an extremely mental, and extremely physical game. They don't manipulate objects for the most part like a puck or a ball, they manipulate bodies trying to manipulate them back.
 
Psmith said:
I've zero knowledge of ice hockey but I know it involves skill. It's quite obvious to see. The only skill involved in American football is the quarter back throwing the ball and to a certain extent the bloke who runs and catches it. The majority of the other players are responsible for blocking, tackling and simply running which doesn't take much skill especially when these players are physically huge.

Having 100-120 players in a squad for every team suggests that there are lot of players with a similar level of skill and if there are so many players like that it doesn't take much to succeed.
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Nucks has covered most of what I would have said pretty well I would think, especially in terms of the squad size. There is a certain skill level in all areas of the game, even line play involving the big guys. We are talking about tremendously skilled athletes at the NFL level, especially when you take into consideration their strength, stamina, speed, balance etc in relation to their size. The mental part of the game is great in itself when you think about all the information the players need to take in, process and then have the skill to react upon during a single play. That is not solely for a position like QB either.

Take a top flight cornerback for example, who has to cover probably the most athletic and physically gifted player on the field, without knowing where/what the receiver is going/doing most of the time. Or if it is even a passing play for that matter. To say that someone with the combination of speed, strength, instincts, cutting ability, ball skills and reactions that takes is not skilled is off, in my opinion.
 
Nucks said:
1) Standard age of college students is 18-22. If you are born late in the year you might be 17 for a couple months.

2) Not many, there are 32 NFL teams with 53 man active rosters + practice rosters. Hundreds get drafted every year, the majority of them never make it beyond practice teams.

3) There is the CFL (Canadian League) fair number go to Canada but there is even less opportunity. Most are done after college.

4) Some are yes absolutely. NCAA testing however is pretty stringent so it is not that many. You are looking at kids who have been lifting weights seriously since they hit puberty and have been on very specialized regimes late in high school and early on in college. It is not uncommon for kids to go to college as 180 pound linebackers and in a year and a half put on 40+ pounds of muscle due to better training and proper nutrition and supplementing.
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Ummmm yes it is, in Division I-A at least
 
Alex said:
Ummmm yes it is, in Division I-A at least
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No, actually it isn't. I'm going to go out on a limb here and consider myself more informed. For everyone starts out starting as a true freshmen.
 
You arent gonna get signed by a Divison I-A college at 180 lbs to play linebacker, hell they probably wouldnt even let you walk on in most cases, unless you were 4.2-4.3 in which case you wouldnt play LB. There is a huge amount of scouting for college football, and if you want to play 1-A you have to be committed to it when you are in HS, if you are committed there is no way you are gonna way 180 lbs
 
Alex said:
You arent gonna get signed by a Divison I-A college at 180 lbs to play linebacker, hell they probably wouldnt even let you walk on in most cases, unless you were 4.2-4.3 in which case you wouldnt play LB. There is a huge amount of scouting for college football, and if you want to play 1-A you have to be committed to it when you are in HS, if you are committed there is no way you are gonna way 180 lbs
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Do you know how many Strong safeties are recruited in HS to play LB in college? Lots. Lots and lots and lots. Why? They are usually more athletic, faster and more agile.
 
Regardless not many of them are putting 40 lbs of muscle on in a years time
 
Nucks said:
No, actually it isn't. I'm going to go out on a limb here and consider myself more informed. For everyone starts out starting as a true freshmen.
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There aren't any 180lb LBs on division I rosters... they may have played LB at high school level but on that weight they're either 1) bulking up to play safety or special teams only, or 2) will not be making a D1 roster. D1 schools aren't in the business of recruiting 180lb kids to play LB.
 
MrMarcello said:
There aren't any 180lb LBs on division I rosters... they may have played LB at high school level but on that weight they're either 1) bulking up to play safety or special teams only, or 2) will not be making a D1 roster. D1 schools aren't in the business of recruiting 180lb kids to play LB.
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I will concede that 180 pounds was an exaggeration. However as I said it is not uncommon for kids to be recruited undersized and to pack on plenty of weight in a short period of time. Converting strong safeties into will LB's is extremely common, EXTREMELY common.

Urlacher is an example, probably the best.

Putting on over 40 pounds of muscle in a year with proper nutritionists and strength training coaches is not uncommon.

Many freshmen red shirt their first year. Many will spend 2 or 3 years before they see the field. As I said it is not uncommon, that doesn't mean it is common. I was using an extreme example.
 
Darren Woodson played LB in college and was converted to SS in the NFL. He weighed around 220. One of the best at his position as well. Awesome player and should be a HOFer.
 
MrMarcello said:
Darren Woodson played LB in college and was converted to SS in the NFL. He weighed around 220. One of the best at his position as well. Awesome player and should be a HOFer.
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Yeah what you say is far more common than what Nucks is proposing
 
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