It’s common to find famous film actors who couldn’t care less about pro sports. But then again, there are some that are absolute sports junkies, and comedian Will Ferrell would certainly fall into the latter category. Ferrell is merely a fan now, supporting the Seattle Seahawks and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, but back in his day, he could play a little football too.
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While making a guest appearance on the New Heights podcast hosted by NFL brothers Jason and Travis Kelce, the trio discussed Ferrell’s sporting credentials. Ferrell was an avid athlete in high school, captaining the basketball team and playing on the baseball and soccer teams. But it was his football career the Kelces wanted to hear about.
Ferrell played kicker at University High School in his hometown of Irvine. When asked by Jason if he ever considered playing a more physically demanding position, Ferrell revealed that he actually “dominated” at multiple positions as a freshman, including safety and wideout.
“Let’s just say. Freshman year at University High School in Irvine, California, I dominated. Starting free safety and wide receiver, two-way player. Co-MVP of the football team. Basketball freshman player of the year, and I played some baseball.”
The brothers definitely thought Ferrell was joking at first, but the actor quickly proved he wasn’t. Ferrell then revealed that after his decorated freshman year in athletics, it “all went downhill from there”. The actor is 6’3″ now, but he was already 6’1″ as a freshman. That gave him a significant height advantage that would not last him through the remaining three years of his high school career.
“And it was downhill from there. I was 6’1″ and a half as like a freshman, and then by the time I graduated, I was 6’3″, so I only grew an inch and a half more over the next couple years… I made varsity as a sophomore as a kicker, they wanted me to play safety too, but I was like, ‘You guys, I weigh about 145 pounds’. Let’s just say no one was looking at me for proper tackling form.”
Ferrell discussed how soccer and kicking initially introduced him to football. Having played soccer as a kid but not football, kicking became his way of dipping his toes into the sport. While he experimented with playing traditional positions, he was always a kicker at heart. He even recounted his longest field goals — an impressive 45-yarder in a game and about 50 yards in practice.
Ferrell actually had aspirations of becoming a kicker in college. Despite his high school boasting an awful football program (they were 1-8-1 his senior year), he was getting “form letters” from some colleges out west, such as Oregon and New Mexico State.
Ferrell even told the fellas about a fruitless episode when he tried to walk-on to the USC football team. Comedy fans everywhere will be thanking their lucky stars that didn’t work out for him.
