{"id":106370,"date":"2026-02-07T23:28:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=106370"},"modified":"2026-02-08T10:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:39:20","slug":"how-delaying-specialization-helped-these-super-bowl-bound-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/how-delaying-specialization-helped-these-super-bowl-bound-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"How delaying specialization helped these Super Bowl-bound athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Monique Louis<\/b>
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 How did Seattle Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett learn how to track a football so well? By playing baseball.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Jackson High School in Jackson, Ala., Pritchett was first-team all-state in both football and baseball. He said being his team\u2019s center fielder helped him learn and master tracking the ball, an important skill he uses as a pass defender in the NFL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll sports translate together,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like you have to specialize in one sport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pritchett went against the trend of training in one sport for the majority of a year. Those hoping to break through in an increasingly competitive collegiate and professional sporting landscape might feel as if specialization is the quickest, most dependable way to unlock elite status. But multiple studies and the experiences of several Super Bowl athletes point to a multi-sport athletic experience as the foundation to success.<\/span><\/p>\n

National Athletic Trainers Association President AJ Duffy warns against specializing too young. When a young athlete plays multiple sports, it allows the muscle groups required in one sport to rest while challenging the muscle groups required in another sport, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYoung bodies need rest so that they can grow and mature properly,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cNo matter how good these young athletes can be, they are skeletally immature individuals who need to allow their body to grow and not over-stress certain areas by doing too much of one sport.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing multiple sports as a young athlete is also good for skill development, as many skills are transferable across different sports, skills several NFL athletes are bringing with them to the Super Bowl this Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a multi-sport athlete is the best thing you can do as a young athlete,\u201d said Seahawks linebacker Boye Mafe, who played basketball and ran track in high school. \u201cAll kids should play multiple sports.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a study published in the<\/span> European Journal of Sport Science<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0 approximately 64% of NFL players drafted from 2011 to 2023 played multiple sports in high school. In the 2022 NFL draft, 88.9% of draftees were multi-sport athletes in high school, per <\/span>Tracking Football<\/span><\/a>, a football data collection enterprise. Forty-three percent of players drafted that year played three or more sports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mafe said playing multiple sports helped him develop an array of skills he wouldn\u2019t possess if he had stuck to just one sport.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFootwork is key in basketball,\u201d he said, explaining which transferable skills he brought with him to football.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen said running track helped him the most. Woolen\u2019s 40-yard dash time of 4.26 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine ties for sixth all-time. His time is among the fastest for a prospect over 6 feet tall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Several New England Patriots players echoed the experience of these Seahawks defenders. Punter Bryce Baringer said playing golf helped him perform when he was \u201cjittery or nervous.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re standing on the 18th hole of a golf tournament, it could maybe feel like a big punt in a game,\u201d Baringer said. \u201cThe mindset translates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The same study published in EJSS concluded multi-sport athletes \u201caccumulated a broader foundation of motor skills,\u201d due to the wide-ranging skills they obtain from playing several sports.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study, which evaluated the relationship between early specialization in football and proneness to injury in the NFL, also indicated NFL athletes who specialize too early are more injury-prone. The results showed \u201cMultisport athletes sustained fewer total injuries and major injuries compared to single\u2010sport athletes. Multisport athletes also played 12.2 more NFL games and had 0.7 additional career years.\u201d In a sport where the average career is 3.3 years, per the <\/span>Statista Research Department<\/span><\/a>, the 0.7 figure is significant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duffy added reduced injury rates could be attributed to delaying, or preventing, overexertion of targeted muscle groups over the course of an athlete\u2019s career.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRest is extremely important to not over-fatigue the muscles and joints, which need adequate time to recover and reenergize,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diversifying athletic experiences also helps avoid burnout and curb the psychological stress specializing might induce, according to a study published in <\/span>Sports Health<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet them be kids. Let them play and let them enjoy growth,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cAs they grow older, they will find a sport that they want to home in on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had as much fun playing baseball as I did football in high school,\u201d Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t encourage young athletes enough to play as many sports as possible. It\u2019s the best time of your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Monique Louis is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Monique Louis Medill Reports SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 How did Seattle Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett learn how to track a football so well? By playing baseball.\u00a0 At Jackson High School in Jackson, Ala., Pritchett was first-team all-state in both football and baseball. He said being his team\u2019s center fielder helped him learn and master […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":106371,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5545,5543,31,5546,5544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medill-explores-2026","category-msj26","category-sports","category-super-bowl-lx","category-winter-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nHow delaying specialization helped these Super Bowl-bound athletes - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/how-delaying-specialization-helped-these-super-bowl-bound-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How delaying specialization helped these Super Bowl-bound athletes - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Monique Louis Medill Reports SAN JOSE, Calif. \u2014 How did Seattle Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett learn how to track a football so well? By playing baseball.\u00a0 At Jackson High School in Jackson, Ala., Pritchett was first-team all-state in both football and baseball. 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