Any weight over about 250 lbs. in high school is wasted weight. There's just about no way to get over that weight at high school age without the excess over 250 being fat and/or something the kid can't doesn't yet have the coordination or development to use properly. Playing bigger players at positions that they figure to be able to play in college-but are not yet ready to play now in H.S.-is one of the more obvious causes of the supposedly talent rich factories like STA sometimes losing to teams with less "talent". We consistently see kids about 200 lbs being able to dominate as DL in h.s. because that's often all the weight they need to hang given their excellent quickness. But of course those kids have no chance to get a scholarship to play DL, and so some schools just won't play them at DL no matter. But, those that will play kids like that routinely take advantage of the big, uncoordinated, underdeveloped OLs that have impressive height/weight profiles.
Your assertion that kids cannot get to 300lbs in HS and play very good football is not correct. Some can and do, with fairly low body fat and have strength that probably do not understand; but most 300lb kids in HS are just overweight and not the type of kids DI schools are interested in, so there is a lot of validity in why you espouse as a general statement. But some of the big schools have many 300 pounders, especially those schools that bring in kids from all over, and they have very big, very talented O Lines. Last year, all of the kids on IMG and STA O-Lines were over 300lbs. They all had good feet and could move; which is why were recruited by Power 5 schools. There is a big difference in having one or two legitimate big kids and having 20-25 Bigs as do IMG and STA have on their rosters, and this year they have just as many on each of those squads. It's just that some kids are big, can move their feet and are strong, with some benching 450lbs+, squat 600lbs+, and power clean over 350lbs+. So, though I am for a tough 200 pounder playing with a lot of heart, they too will get pushed around when they play against the better teams.
Offensive Line Play
in The Huddle
Posted
Your assertion that kids cannot get to 300lbs in HS and play very good football is not correct. Some can and do, with fairly low body fat and have strength that probably do not understand; but most 300lb kids in HS are just overweight and not the type of kids DI schools are interested in, so there is a lot of validity in why you espouse as a general statement. But some of the big schools have many 300 pounders, especially those schools that bring in kids from all over, and they have very big, very talented O Lines. Last year, all of the kids on IMG and STA O-Lines were over 300lbs. They all had good feet and could move; which is why were recruited by Power 5 schools. There is a big difference in having one or two legitimate big kids and having 20-25 Bigs as do IMG and STA have on their rosters, and this year they have just as many on each of those squads. It's just that some kids are big, can move their feet and are strong, with some benching 450lbs+, squat 600lbs+, and power clean over 350lbs+. So, though I am for a tough 200 pounder playing with a lot of heart, they too will get pushed around when they play against the better teams.