“Hut, hut!” If you’re a fan of American football, you’ve heard these words yelled by the quarterback to give the center the “okay” to snap the ball. The term used to be “hike,” (thanks to John Heisman) but with time, words and their meanings change. However, sometimes they simply stay the same, even when they no longer apply.
Just in time for the latest NLF season, Kate Shelor hosts the online Fansplainme Sports page, where she shares the “wildest stories in sports.” On a recent Reel, she digs deep into the reason football players have their position names. And the surprising reason many of those names no longer apply today.
Why are they called ‘quarterbacks?’
At the beginning of the clip, a chyron reads, “Why is he called a quarterback,” with Shelor launching right into the questions. “Quarterback, halfback, fullback. Have you ever noticed that those are ‘fractions?’ And you wanna know what they’re fractions of? Distance! Those names are measurements from 1880 and this is pretty cool…every one of them is now wrong.”
Now it’s time for a history lesson. As she speaks, we see old black-and-white photos of the people and football fields she’s referencing. “So it’s October, 1880. A man named Walter Camp, who’s a Yale player and the guy they call the ‘father’ of American football, gets the colleges together in Springfield, Massachusetts, and rewrites rugby into something new. He kills the scrum. He invents the line of scrimmage. He invents the snap. And behind that line, he sets up four players, named by how far ‘back’ they stood!”
She names them. “The quarterback, a quarter of the way back. The two halfbacks, halfway back! The fullback? The full distance back! That’s it, that’s the whole mystery.”
Walter Camp’s rules
She notes how things have changed. “Get this! The original quarterback was barely allowed to do anything. Camp’s own rule defined him as, and I’m quoting, ‘The man who first receives the ball. He took the snap and handed it off.’ That’s the job. He was not allowed to run forward with it. And throwing it? The throwing pass was illegal until 1906. Did you know that? The most important position in American sports, this is huge, started with just being a guy on a field who was forbidden from carrying the ball.”
To the point that it no longer applies, Shelor has an answer. “Why every name is wrong today is because is sometimes the modern quarterback is directly under center. Basically, zero distance back. Sometimes, he’s in shotgun. Either way, nobody is measuring him as a quarter of anything anymore!”
Same for the halfback. “The halfback, well, most people just call him the running back now. And the fullback, the full distance back, he’s a blocker now. So he lines up in FRONT of the running back, closer to the line than the halfback.” The screen now shows a brightly colored green map with Xs and Os, demonstrating where players stand. “So the names are actually are actually backwards completely for today.”
Outliving their meanings
She adds, “Every Sunday, announcers describe a formation that hasn’t existed in 100 years. So it’s pretty interesting, I think, that the words have outlived the original meaning of them. But now you know!”
She notes rugby, in fact, had an extra fraction called the “three quarterback” which she claims Camp must have just skipped!
This is all backed up in the subreddit r/NFLNoobs, wherein one Redditor points out, “At some point in time the fullback and halfback swapped over.”
Rugby origins
Another commenter further further explains how American football relates to rugby. “Football’s origins come from rugby union. Remember these are sports where you didn’t have unlimited subs, so everyone played both ways. Keeping to rugby union (because this is how our game started), and pre-1906 (before the forward pass):
Fullbacks are the deepest backs on offense and defense. They are the smallest, most agile players on the team with great field vision. Now on defense, defensive fullbacks are called safeties. On offense, these would have been your “home-run” and speedy ball carriers.
Halfbacks in old football served as more hybrid players who could block and run, and on defense, they played the “wingback” role in rugby; often playing out by the edge. Now on defense, defensive halfbacks are called cornerbacks.
Forwards are the pack players at the front. On offense, these are now offensive linemen (including the ends), and on defense, these make up the D-line and linebackers.”
Hardly any feet are on the ball
For some, it’s hard enough keeping up with what every player used to or presently does. So perhaps just watch the score and have a great time rooting for your team. As this Instagrammer (under the Reel) notes, a lot of it is nonsensical, at least in terms of linguistics. “Starting with the fact that the name of the game is ‘football,’ and only one player of each team, in 2 plays can use the foot to hit the ball… everything has rare sense.”
