In a shocking statement, Illinois' legendary high school football talent scout Tom Lemming says 15-20% of high school players juice up to bulk up. The Chicago Daily Herald carries a story on Lemming, who essentially invented high school scouting. (Update: The UK is astonished that kids as young as 11 are juicing resulting in whithered testicles)
Lemming practically invented the business of comprehensively scouting players across the country...
He has worked as a recruiting analyst for ESPN and USA Today. He picks the annual U.S. Army All-American squad and Gatorade Player of the Year.
He's discovered future NFL stars like Randy Moss and Michael Vick. College recruiters seek him out for his take on top players. And each week, he interviews top coaches and prospects on "Tom Lemming's Generation Next" on College Sports TV...
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently named Lemming one of the top 10 most powerful people in college sports.
Here is Lemming's take on the juice and the high school football player:
For all his influence, Lemming doesn't care for college or pro ball, both of which he considers businesses.
He estimates 15 percent to 20 percent of high school players use steroids to bulk up, and that half of the college and pro players use the stuff, while football looks the other way.
Ironically, with so many big players, size is a given, but with quick running backs like LaDainian Tomlinson setting NFL scoring records, Lemming said, "It's a game of speed now."
Lemming's estimate are shocking. It is felt that around 1% of current college football players juice -- or at least that is the number reported. As Lemming hints above, there may be a large underground element to college football PED use.
Impossible! Everyone knows that steroids is a baseball only problem. I bet 50% of HS baseball players juice up.
Posted by: Proposition Joe | 12/14/2007 at 01:07