Comments about ‘Here's the beef: College O-linemen at BYU — and across the country — are bigger than ever’

Love those 'roids.

After these kids sit in front of the TV all summer and every evening snacking on chips and cookies--of course they are all going to be big!

Where's the chart referred to in the article?

The ideal lineman body composition wise would be the incredible hulk. No fat, just a HUGE ripped guy with raw power and stregnth. Imagine a whole line of guys like that, no defensive front would stand a chance. Slow running backs could get 50 yards a carry! I wonder if future lines will have, or at least try to attempt, that kind of body type.

Today's players are truly amazing. Even at the high school level you see 300 pound kids on the line. I graduated from high school in 1969 and the biggest kid in school weighed 175 pounds. I played corner at 140 and was considered decent sized. I was lightly recruited for college but had to get up to a strapping 160 pounds to play corner or safety, and return punts and kick offs. (I think the female trainers you see running around with college football teams today are heavier than that !!) The difference was, at 160, I could bench almost twice my weight, as could most of the guys in the weight room. I doubt the 375 pound lineman can make that claim !! I truly think that pound for pound, kids were stronger back then because it was all raw muscle, not the twinkies (or the 'roids) doing the talking.

This has simply got to be a result of human growth hormones and or steroids, just like baseball, the dirty little secret everybody knows about, but no one wants to talk about. I've seen these specimens up close. They will be seriously disabled as they advance in age due to weight issues (joints, diabetes, heart disease, etc.). They have muscle, but lets be honest a good part of their mass is fat.

Our little league 8th grade, 13 year old Bantam team line averaged 250 lbs !!! All Polynesian, and good. Bigger than most high school teams.

Ralph,

Your last comment paints everyone with a broad brush of steroids and I hope that was not your intention. I would also take issue with your weight lifting comment. A lot of people can lift up to 300 lbs on a bench but when you get over 400 lbs the increased weight is pushing the limits of the lifter. The fact that one of the BYU lineman is reported to be able to bench 540 lbs is a remarkable feat.

I think the improvements in diet and weight training are the main factors in players getting bigger. As Reynolds said, they are not fat, they are getting bigger with muscle. The new weight machines exercise the entire range of the muscle and when you and I (I graduated from HS in 1967) were doing that lifting we did not have the type of machines available today.

Kibbles & bits, kibbles & bits, kibbles & bits.

Humans are getting bigger, due to what we eat & evolution.

I blame fast food and other processed foods becoming mainstream diet.

I was mission companions with Matt Johnson who played for Ricks then BYU as an offensive lineman. I think his last year was 1999 at BYU. When I was with him he weighed 297 and was improving his bench press even though he only lifted once a week(500+). He ate a lot! A year later when we were at Ricks he claimed to be 330 and looked it too.

Some of those guys are SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW. byu might be bigs but their feet are made of cement.

Pretty simple. Look at the human body size in the 1800s. Sure strength training and growth hormones in processed foods have something to do with it. It's evident by human sizes throughout time that there are some races that are much larger now. Even the Asians and other countries.

Imagine a meal at the Reynolds family reunion!

I'm glad they are all great kids and on our side!

Too many comments blame steroids, etc. Although some people certainly had taken them, the vast majority likely have not. If the average U.S. man is one inch taller over the same span that the average lineman is four inches taller, then they really are naturally bigger. Steroids put on muscle, not height. As their frame gets bigger, naturally so does their ability to put on weight.

My mother-in-law in 30 years has gone from 210 pounds to 310 pounds and she could bench press me.

My Dad played at BYU in the early 60s, he was a 6'4" 220lb defensive end. I always wondered how that happened, it didn't seem very big, but then my frame of reference was the current lineman.

Size certainly makes you appreciate someone a little smaller and a lot faster like Jason Taylor. Those that are fit and fast can run around the larger guys without much trouble.

I bet over 95% of the guys in the NFL have taken them at least once in their career. I took a few cycles in college along with the rest of the football team. It helped with speed, strength, size, and recovery which is vital for the NFL game.

I think the ideal body type for running backs is something along the lines of our local Kryptonian, Clark Kent (a.k.a. Superman). Imagine the combination of speed and strength with a dose of heat vision to boot. As for wide receivers, hands down, the Flash. Whoa, no one could touch this team. Perhaps in a few more generations, humanity will make that next, radical jump in evolution and usher in the age of homo superior. Lets just hope when that happens, we dont get a Magneto.

"Where's the chart referred to in the article?"

To the right you will see a picture of Ray Feinga. Above that you will see two tabs: Story Photo and Story Graphic. Click Story Graphic and then click "Comparing BYU's Offensive Line".

I'm 6'7", and I wouldn't DREAM of using steroids, but I can still very easily push my body to a reasonably lean 300. With that kind of size comes strength, and I can easily manage a 400-pound bench when I'm heavier (I'm only 260-ish right now.) Now, you take a dude with my frame and give him access to a nutritionist and an Davision 1-caliber strength coach with modern techniques and equipment, and the recent gains in size make perfect sense. My dad was 5'11" and about 150 for most of his adult life, so times, they are a-changin'.