A Q&A WITH U.S. WOMENS NATIONAL TEAM CO-CAPTAIN LINDSEY HORAN
As her team heads into the World Cup, the soccer star reflects on how the sports landscape has changed during...
15 July 2023 Jessica Burtzos
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A SIT DOWN WITH DEEBO SAMUEL
If you follow it with any semblance of regularity, you’ve likely heard that football is the sport of gladiators. That’s a cool thing to say because gladiators are cool. But that also means that the sport’s participants face a grueling physical toll.
Few players are more familiar with this hefty tax the body is forced to endure than the San Francisco 49ers offensive chameleon Deebo Samuel. His position on the depth chart may read “WR,” but those who have been paying attention know that there’s a lot more to his game than just catching passes.
On any given possession, he could be stationed in the backfield, at the line of scrimmage, or even directly under center. He’s a positionless player in every sense of the word, and because of that, his body takes a pounding like none other. However, his unique deployment on the football field doesn’t change his preparation too much. The real key to being able to do what he does at such an unprecedented level is his recovery process.
“It doesn’t change the way I train too much,” Samuel said in an interview with Forbes. “I just train myself to be in the best shape possible. You can’t really train yourself to be hit. It’s more of a mental thing. Growing up, I played running back a good bit, so I’m kind of used to getting hit.”
“The recovery phase is the most important for me because I take more hits than a lot of people playing the position I play [WR],” Samuel explained. “The most important part is to take care of your body right after the game so that you can start getting physically prepared for the next week.”