There are obvious differences in the size of potential NFL football players over the last thirty years. They are significantly bigger today than they were in 1987 at virtually every position. In some cases they are faster. And given that the power generated by a player in motion is directly related to both size and speed, the potential for damage due to concussion for players today is higher. What about for football players at your school?
Rosters of the players at Sylacauga High School in Sylacauga, Georgia for 1947 and 2019 are included in the table below and the weight data has been added to the calculator. The position data for 2019 has been modified to be consistent with the information from 1947 when only general offensive positions were given. The data is not complete. Not all players in 2019 had their weights listed. Those players were not included.
There are obvious differences. But are they significant - both in a statistical sense and in a real sense in terms of the potential for concussion? Are there significant differences in the weights for all positions?
t-Test Results
1) Are the differences in weights significant for all positions? Explain. Notice that if you want to use the calculator to answer this question you will have to change the weights in cells 3 and 4. The values are listed in the tables above.
(Data can be changed in cells 3 and 4. q1 contains the list of earlier values; q2, the list of 2019 values.)
2) Pay a visit to your school library or to the athletic director at your school and locate a current football roster and one from several decades ago. Organize the data you find similar to that in the example above from Sylaguaga High School and perform your own comparison. To use the Desmos calculator all you have to do is replace the weights in cells 3 and 4. q1 is the earlier data; q2, the later data.
Prepare a written and/or video summary of your results with appropriate graphs and statistics.
data from Sylacauga Football Roster, 2019, MaxPreps, downloaded September 14, 2019 and Sylacauga High School Football Program, September 20,1947, downloaded September 14, 2019 from the B.B. Comer Memorial Library.