After football, linemen can slim down in hurry

 The main sports page at Tampabay.com has a story that should be in Tuesday's Times, looking at how former college linemen are able to drop a substantial amount of weight once they're done with their football days.

Two USF linemen in particular are barely recognizable from their playing days -- defensive tackle Lee Roy Selmon Jr. (pictured) who weighed 295 after his final season in 2004, is down to 190 pounds, and offensive tackle Derrick Sarosi, who weighed as much as 335 pounds, dropped down to 225 at one point and is now at 250. There are obvious health benefits to getting down to a more normal weight after there isn't a practical need to carry a bigger body.

I decided to do this story after reading a great feature in Sports Illustrated about a month ago by George Dohrmann, who focused on two offensive linemen from Oregon that dropped a huge amount of weight right after they stopped playing ...

(Times photo by Willie J. Allen Jr.)

Comments

[great piece.]

good news. A university needs to show these players that they are just as supportive about the players losing the weight as gaining it.

Frey lost a ton of weight during his tenure here at USF. I remember his early years at USF he still looked like an ole OL, sweating after a few steps an heavy. The last few years he lost a bunch of weight and it was hard to tell he use to be that big. It really made Frey look healthier and will be better for him in the long run.

Glad to see USF is breeding such an environment.

[G.A.]

Selmon said it was USF's Steve Walz who first suggested to him the benefits of dropping some weight to ease the burden on his surgically repaired knees.

And Mike Lube got the ball rolling on his weight loss through a friendly wager with then offensive line coach Greg Frey, who challenged him to drop 50 pounds from his current weight. So there is some solid direction from USF in terms of getting former players in the right shape ...

[great piece.]

greg, bravo. I read the SI article and actually thought it a travesty that schools are not required to provide athletes a post-football/sports nutritional counseling.

They get these kids corn-fed and up to 100+lbs above their ideal weight. Then if a player isn't drafted and wants to lose the weight the school has ZERO obligation to help them out.

This is where congress SHOULD REALLY BE INVESTIGATING in the NCAA instead of the farce of an investigation on the BCS...p.s. the BCS argument is a joke, the bowls can contract with whomever they'd like...if congress called the BCS a monopoly the schools would simply break it up, and just stick to their old bowl line-up i.e. B10 and P10 to rose and so on. The real losers would be the idiots whining about it now who would see their BCS checks dry up.

Anyway, obesity is a real problem in America, and I think this is a good way to combat, or at least a nice start. Nutritionists are expensive, but if required by the NCAA then schools would find a way.

P.S. LRS Jr. looks amazing, I wouldn't even recognize him at all. Congrats my man!