ESPN the Magazine’s popular body issue goes on sale at newsstands soon. Featured within the issue are Indianapolis Colts offensive linemen Todd Herremans, Jack Mewhort and Anthony Castonzo.
In the interview portion of the issue, the trio was asked a variety of questions including this one:
Have you always been big?
Herremans, who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs in at 321 pounds, stated this in his response:
“I was always pretty pudgy … probably a little pudgier than what you’d call “baby fat” [laughs]. When I first started playing football in seventh and eighth grade, there was a weight limit, and I always had to wear a “T” on my helmet because I was overweight; it meant I had to play in between the tackles. I couldn’t catch the ball even if it was thrown directly to me. I just had to sit in there and take up space, even at that level. I was forced to be a lineman at a young age.”
Herremans is new to the Colts after spending 10 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mewhort, who is 6-foot-6 and weighs 309 pounds, responded to the size question with this:
“I was always bigger. Going into high school, I think I was like 5-foot-9, 190. Then I hit my growth spurt. That’s why when I got this call [to be in the Body Issue], I was like, “They want to see me naked?” I thought I was getting punked.”
Mewhort was a second-round pick of the Colts from the 2014 NFL draft.
Castonzo was drafted by the Colts in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft. He is 6-foot-7 and weighs 305 pounds. Not always a big guy, Costonzo answered with this regarding his size:
“I kind of went through waves. When I was in fourth grade, I was playing tackle football with the eighth-graders because of my size. But there are pictures of me in high school where I literally looked like a capital L — I had such gigantic feet and I was so tall and so skinny that just standing there, I looked like a capital L. Then I gained a bunch of weight after high school. I was a real late developer.”
While it would be extremely difficult not to notice these three guys out in public, Castonzo admitted that quarterback Andrew Luck steals the show:
“People immediately notice. It’s hard to go incognito anywhere as a group. But if we go out, Andrew [Luck], he takes all that [attention], because people don’t care about us when we’re out with him. It’s kind of nice [laughs].”
I’m sure if the guys went out like this, they would certainly be paid plenty of attention.
Photo: ESPN.com