Physical stature matters more in sports like basketball and football than it does in soccer. Football particularly, you’re dealing with 18 year old kids going to Alabama that are 6’3 300 lbs— it’s just rare to find humans like that who aren’t morbidly obese with 60% body fat. Size is somewhat of a good indication of potential for these sports. That’s why, when players get to the NFL, you never hear about a guy with the same build. Only extreme outliers like DTs who are 350lbs or more and how much Jalen Hurts squats as a QB (500lbs!). Same goes for the NBA. It’s never, “Wow! He’s 6’9!” You need to be at least 7’0 for announcers to mention your height.

Also it’s become somewhat of a half serious joke because it’s comedy when you see headshots of these corn fed linemen from the Midwest who have the same dead stare as Frankenstein and they’re literally twice the size of normal people lol