The Weighting Game

Just how much bigger are today's Columbia football players compared to the squads of the not-so-distant past?

I crunched some numbers from the rosters of significant Lions teams of the last 22 years to find out.

Most of the results were not surprising.

First, let's look at the 1987 team. It was the final winless season for Columbia's varsity during that 44-game losing streak. Every varsity team since 1987 has won at least one game.

In 1987, the average weight of a Lion varsity offensive lineman was 233 pounds. The average defensive lineman was 228 pounds.

The 1994 Lions posted the first winning season for a Columbia varsity team since 1971.

The average varsity offensive lineman on that 1994 team was 258 pounds, the average defensive lineman was 238 pounds.

Not to be mean, but the 2005 Lions were just about the weakest squad I've seen us put together in 22 years.

The average 2005 varsity offensive lineman was 274 pounds and the average defensive lineman was 236 pounds. (I'm not including incoming freshmen, because freshmen were not allowed on the varsity before 1994).


And that brings us to today.

These numbers will change, (and likely go considerably higher), but as of now the average weight of a varsity Lion offensive lineman is 280 pounds and the average defensive lineman is 244 pounds.

So, from 1987, the average weight of our offensive linemen has jumped 20.1% or 47 pounds. The average weight of our defensive linemen is up 7% or 16 pounds.

Bigger is better? Well it doesn't hurt.