Big boys: Football players' size continues to increase with passage of time

"More than any other sport, football is a game predicated on size.

Even in a modern era of high-powered passing attacks, the game, at its core, is about a team being able to trudge a ball up a field through sheer force and manpower.

Perhaps it's not surprising then that the size of football players has grown considerably over the past several decades. It's a change that's been obvious at the professional and college level, and also on high school teams, including locally in the WPIAL.

It's a steady climb in size that has been seen in particular positions. The growth of quarterbacks, for example, has been small, almost entirely non-existent. As a senior at Central Catholic in 1978, a 6-foot 4-inch, 198-pound Dan Marino would stand above many modern signal-callers such as, say, North Allegheny's Mack Leftwich, who stands 5-11 and weighs 190 pounds."