Boston Scott Plans to Push Off the Competition

For years coaches would say the same thing when outsiders questioned Darren Sproles' size.

'He's short, not small,' the response would be.

Boston Scott tried to capture that same sentiment when speaking about his own journey to the NFL on Wednesday.

"People say little, not small," Scott smiled when asked about his Olympic-style powerlifting background by SI.com's Eagle Maven and how it translates to the football field.

Anyone who met Sproles over the years understood the 'short but not small' narrative.

Pound for pound, Sproles was one of the most powerful players in the Eagles' weight room, arguably the most powerful and it showed in legs that best-resembled tree trunks, albeit stubby ones if you wanted to crack the obvious joke.

That power was the main reason Sproles turned into a borderline Hall of Famer as one of the NFL's best pass-catchers out of the backfield and return men over a 15-year career despite being just 5-foot-6.

Fast forward to the Eagles' current RB room and you have Scott, also listed at 5-6 but purportedly 5-7 according to a recent doctor's visit.

Scott, like Sproles before him and for a bit of an overlap in 2018 and 2019, is one of the most powerful Eagles' players.

Once a walk-on at Lousiana Tech, Scott understood he would have to bulk up from 175 pounds or so and he found refuge in the weight room, ultimately topping out as a guy who can squat 625 pounds, power clean 365 and bench press 425, numbers that few of the massive people trying to tackle him each week can match.

"The explosiveness of the lift itself is what translates to the game," said Scott. "It's all about fast-twitch fibers. How fast can you explode whether it's through the line, through a cut, laterally, whatever it may be? Whenever you're doing the lifts you have to engage your core, you have to engage all the lower extremities. Everything in your body that works."