People shocked by age of huge football player after picture goes viral of him mid-game

People are flooding to social media in disbelief over pictures of a high school football player in action.

On Saturday (16 December), Byron Washington from DeSoto High School played in the Texas state football championship game.

However, what the junior and offensive tackle didn't realise at the time, was a photograph of him mid-game would end up going viral.

A picture re-shared by Matt Stepp to X - formerly known as Twitter - and taken by a user named Will @w1llkombe - shows Washington during the game.

The image shows Washington's great stature towering over another player as he can be seen grabbing them around their shoulder area - their head barely reaching his chest.

And the image has caused quite the stir online.

People have flocked to the image in disbelief over just how tall Washington is compared to the other player.

One X user wrote: "That’s a really big guy there especially compared to his opp."

"What do you do when faced with such opposition," another added.

A third commented: "Need to see a birth certificate lol."

And a fourth said: "Dude is so massive to be still in high school wow."

And viewers of the picture have taken to social media in even greater bafflement after realising just how young Washington is too.

According to Washington's social media and Hudl profiles, the football player is 6ft8inches, weighs 360lbs and is in the class of 2025.

As an X user put it: "He still has another year?"

CBS Sports' Barrett Sallee later gave some context to the image: "Desoto (Texas) High School offensive lineman Byron Washington is 6-foot-8, 360 pounds. He’s a junior. He is blocking Summer Creek High School defensive end Kaleb Walker … WHO IS 6-FOOT-3, 210 POUNDS."

If Washington's a junior and set to graduate at 18 years old in 2025 - the age most people graduate from high school - that means Washington is currently 16 years old. Yup.

However, it's not been easy for the teenager, who is reported by The Athletic as having had to undergo surgery as a result of a six-inch growth spurt during one month of sixth grade.

Washington told the outlet: "My growth plates were stretching so much, I had to get metal rods put in my legs to straighten them out for more support on my body,

"For two years, I had to do physical therapy. I had to learn how to trust my body again. Getting to this point wasn’t easy."

It may not've been easy, but it's certainly been worth it for the young footballer, the 6A Division II championship seeing DeSoto win against Summer Creek.

According to Bally Sports TXHS, the DeSoto Eagles 'set a new record' in the championship for 'most points' in a 6A state championship with a total of 67. The previous record is reported as 63.

Washington has also reportedly already received offers from Arizona State, Oregon, TCU and Texas, as per his On3 profile.

Topics: Sport, Football, US News, World News, Twitter, Social Media

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.