Reaching Impressive Heights, And Weights

Many of the Area's Top High School Players Are Becoming Bigger and Stronger, Though There Still Is Room for the Smaller Players, Too

As a youngster, Peter Lalich was easy to find on the football field. Taller than all the other boys his age, Lalich would break the huddle, move to the line of scrimmage and stick a hand in the dirt.

"I did real well at nose guard," Lalich said. "I used to knock the center back into the quarterback every play."

These days, when he gets in the huddle, Lalich remains one of the biggest players -- he might be the second-biggest offensive starter on West Springfield High's team. The senior listed at 6 feet 5 and 225 pounds is no longer a lineman; he is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the east coast and has accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Virginia.

Size has always mattered when it comes to football. Big players block and tackle along the line of scrimmage while smaller ones are pushed outside and back. This fall in the Washington area, the top players come in all shapes and sizes, but across the board it seems the players are getting larger.

Look at Ballou High. which Knights added linemen Marvin Austin (6-3, 304) and Lamar Milstead (6-6, 280) from Coolidge. Austin said he has narrowed his college choices to Maryland, Virginia, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee and Southern California; Milstead has said he will accept a scholarship to North Carolina.

Good Counsel features 6-3, 285-pound Nick Jenkins, a lineman bound for Virginia. Lineman Andrew Nuss (6-5, 285) of Stone Bridge has accepted a scholarship to Notre Dame. Hylton has 6-5, 310-pound William Alvarez, who has committed to Virginia Tech.

Then there are players who are big for their positions, such as Lalich, Dunbar wide receiver Arrelious Benn (6-2, 205) and linebackers Devonte Campbell of Forestville, Terence Fells-Danzer of Culpeper and Quillie Odom of Osbourn Park, all at least 6 feet 2 and more than 200 pounds. Fells-Danzer and Odom have committed to Virginia and Virginia Tech, respectively. All-Met linebacker Pat Lazear, who will be playing at Wheaton this season, is 6-1 and 230 pounds.

Players and coaches are size-conscious to such an extent that the dimensions they list in programs (which are the dimensions used in this section) are not always reliable.

"There are a lot of schools that make them an inch taller or 10 pounds heavier," Good Counsel Coach Bob Milloy said. "You see them walking off the field, walking on the field or during halftime and you say, 'That guy isn't 6-4 and 235.' Why people do that, I don't know. Maybe to impress the college coaches, but those guys can look from 100 yards away and [guess] within two pounds [of a player's weight]. Those guys are pros."

Milloy knows the most important quality in a player is impossible to quantify.

"Obviously, bigger is better if a big guy can motivate and play, but to me it's all still attitude and how bad you want it," he said. "Desire is the most important thing you have in a kid. You can have a bunch of big, slow, soft guys, and you're not going to win a lot of games."

Of course, with offseason training and conditioning programs becoming more routine, most of those big players are far from slow or soft. Most are able to run the 40-yard dash in under five seconds and bench press 225 pounds, with plenty of reps. Milloy said that Jenkins and another of his linemen, Bryan Murray, each dropped more than 40 pounds to get in better shape.