Performance and blood pressure characteristics of first-year national collegiate athletic association division I football players.

The authors were aware of no published studies in which the performance characteristics of first-year National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate football players were reported. From 2003 to 2006, 73 freshman and 12 transfer football recruits were tested before twice-a-day practices for bench press (BP), squat (SQ), power clean (PC), vertical jump (VJ), calculated jump power (CP), treadmill endurance capacity (Vo2peak), and maximal treadmill time (MTT). Individuals were grouped by player position for descriptive statistical analysis. As a group, offensive linemen (OL), defensive linemen (DL), linebackers (LB), tight ends (TE), and running backs (RB) averaged 152.8 kg for BP, 210.5 kg for SQ, 127.3 kg for PC, and 224.2 W for CP. These values were 22% to 30% higher than those for quarterbacks (QB), wide receivers (WR), defensive backs (DB), and kickers (K), who together averaged 120.2 kg for BP, 163.4 kg for SQ, 104.6 kg for PC, and 172.4 W for CP. Quarterbacks, WR, DB, and K as a group showed the highest MTT (13:13 m.s) and Vo2peak values (47.24 mL.kg.min), 15% to 20% higher than those for OL, DL, LB, RB, and TE, who averaged 11:27 m.s for MTT and 39.51 mL.kg.min for Vo2peak. Running backs, TE, LB, DB, and WR averaged 82.56 cm for VJ, which was 14% higher than that for DL, QB, K, and OL, who averaged 72.72 cm. On the basis of average resting blood pressure, 23.5% (20 players) were categorized as hypertensive (i.e., >/=140/90 mm Hg), 54% (46 players) as prehypertensive (i.e., 120-139/80-89 mm Hg), and 22.5% (19 players) as normal (i.e., <120/80 mm Hg). These data serve as a basis for comparisons among other Division I programs, benchmarking development and improvement through training, and creating position performance norms for incoming football athletes.