In case you haven’t heard, the NFL season officially starts tonight when the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles take on the Dallas Cowboys. In honor of the Eagles title defense season starting, let’s have some fun with a Phillies question.
It’s no secret that many professional athletes played and maybe even excelled at multiple sports in high school. Jackie Robinson for example was a varsity letter athlete in baseball, football, track and field, and basketball. Very few actually go on to
play two sports at the collegiate or professional level, with Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders being the ones that come to mind. At some point, most gifted athletes are forced to pick one sport to devote their time and energy to in the hopes of making it pro.
That’s exactly what happened with J.T. Realmuto, who played baseball, football, and basketball at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He won state championships with the baseball and football teams during his time there from 2006-2010. Realmuto played shortstop on the baseball team and set national records with 119 RBIs in 42 games his senior season while hitting .595 with 21 home runs.
On the gridiron, Realmuto played quarterback and threw for 1,937 yards his senior year with a completion percentage of 59.4% and 20 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He added 1,412 rushing yards on 212 carries on the ground with 25 touchdowns. Ultimately as is obvious, Realmuto chose baseball and has reaped the rewards from it. But still, it’s not hard to envision him excelling on the football field if he chose to go that route.
Realmuto isn’t the only current member of the Phillies to have played football as well as baseball during his high school career. Joining him are Kyle Schwarber, who was a Second Team All-Ohio linebacker, and Brandon Marsh, who was a varsity wide receiver/cornerback.
So, which Phillies would be the best football players? Could Realmuto’s dual threat ability shred defenses? Could Kyle Schwarber plant a running back into the grass? What about Brandon Marsh, could he have been a bearded version of Travis Hunter? You don’t have to stay with current Phillies or those that actually played football either. What players from Phillies history would you pick to be on your football team?
