[BritishGiant]

ive lived in england all my life. as soccer is the most popular sport over here, ive grown up knowing soccer as "football" and football as "american football." now after 18 years of my life ive got very bored of soccer and have now started to call what we brits call "american football" as just football. but my question is why is football called football? the foot is only ever used in punting and kicking so could it be argued the game shouldnt be called football? i'd like an american view on this as ive never actually heard a reason.

cheers

[BucBaller]

I've never wondered it and don't really care why it is called that.

[Ironman]

North America style football didn't used to allow the "forward pass" and much more of the play involved foot work, such as the "drop kick" and the running punt kick. In the first rules, only the " side pass" was allowed, as long as the two players were side by side, with no forward motion of the ball, similar to rugby rules. The Canadian Football League ( CFL ) still allows a drop kick to score a field goal, and also has a thing called a "rouge" when the kicker is able to kick the ball thru the end zone, so it lands out of play , it is worth 2 points. Both the NFL and the CFL still have the drop-kick available as a weapon - on the point-after-touchdown, or from the field for 3 points. The "rouge" is worth a single point here in Canada.

[PM59]

Hi guys, I live in Illinois and play for a pretty damn good football team, were in one of the top conferences and have made it to State Playoffs every year. Anyways I started playing football sophomore year of high school (Weird I know) but wrestled both freshmen and sophomore year (Im a soph. right now by the way). This football season I played Offensive Guard but since Im back from wrestling and now going to varsity football conditioning its got me thinking if Ill be big enough for O-line next year. You see Im only around 5'9" and 165 pounds, I run about a 5.4, bench about 185 and squat about 290-300, I know their low maxes but I just got back from wrestling where I lost muscle from cutting weight. That size is definatly not big enough for O-line this varisty year unless I pack on pounds (I hope to get to 180-190).

With my long long situation told should I hope to pack on weight and play guard again or should I try something completely new and go out for linebacker since I have a linebacker build but never played defense?

[Canadian Speed]

Two things come to mind RIGHT AWAY!!! Fullback and/or Tight End... Matches made in heaven for you guy... You know how to impact block, you know how to block down hill since you probably have to pull... Plus now you might just get the ball a few times, other then the odd Guard sneak play (if you guys run that). Fire away, work on your speed and have fun... Should be a very easy fix and fit for you... Stay on offense, be a playmaker. Later, CS

[Blitzburgh Steelers]

Well how big are the men in your family? My sophomore year (just turned 15) I was only 5'8" 135. By the time I graduate high school I was 5'11" 175 (I graduated at 17). By the end of my freshman year in college I was 6' 195. If you're like me, you really can't base your positional fit off of your size at 15/16, because you may grow a lot. But if you're 5'9" and most of your relatives are only 5'9" and 190 or less, chances are you won't grow much so maybe you are close to maxed out.

As for the rest of what you said, a 5.4 is linemen speed. If you come from a faster family, it could be you'll speed up. I didn't run 40s, but in track I gained 3 seconds in my 100 between my sophomore and senior year. I was a late bloomer, went from small and slow to big and fast, from 15-18 lol.

Basically need more info genetically. Gotta plan long-term, not just right now. If you can expect to get big or fast, that'll weigh in heavily on what position you'd be suited for. Fullback does sound decent for you though, since they're usually short and not real fast, and 190 at 5'9" is fairly beefy. TE doesn't sound like a fit since you're short, and they are typically your tallest players.

[PM59]

My father is short and wide but I im tall on my moms side and my cousins on my dads side are all pretty big, its just my dad that I think is bringing me down genetically height wise, not strenght though. Im stocky like the rest of my family, Id consider pretty damn strong compared to most of the kids on my team its just i was never that fast, I got tree trunk legs that move like lead haha. Anyways our team uses 2 wingbacks instead of tight ends and our fullback almost works like our running back, he gets the ball atleast 30% of the time so Im not to sure about that one either.

[Blitzburgh Steelers]

Well 5'9" as a sophomore isn't bad, depending on your age and if you've been that height for a while. Usually if the mom and her family is taller, the kids will be. My dad's side is 5'6" to 5'9" (his dad, him and his brothers). Mom's brothers and dad are 5'10" to 6'1". I'm 6', so I'm way bigger than you'd expect out of my dad's side and that's what I've seen out of most people. So you could get taller if your mom's side is.

But if you're slow and small (for OL), but with big legs, can you kick? Jeff Reed has tree trunks for legs. Centers are usually smaller and shorter, but stout as well. Sometimes they're asked to pull a lot, so they'd want quicker feet, but if not that may be a good fit for ya.

[PM59]

Was conisidering center sice a lot of our blocking schemes revolve around angle blocking so the center will usually just help out the guard 90% of the time, so that's not a bad idea, our school has had a lot of short but strong centers these past years, I just have to learn how to snap now lol

[Blitzburgh Steelers]

Centers have more value as well, since they can slide to G in a pinch as well. Center definitely sounds like your best bet to me.