Not to bore you with stats but about two million high school athletes play football every year.

From that number about 6 thousand play NCAA football.

And out of that number about 2 thousand play in the NFL.

Your chances of making it from your high school team to the pros are small. About one tenth of a percent of high school football players make it to the NFL.

Let that sink in a moment.

One tenth of a percent.

So what is it that separates that tenth percent from the other 1.998 million high school football players?

I don’t know. I’ve asked that question a lot. I’ve asked it of coaches and athletes who played with guys who went pro and professional athletes themselves and cheerleaders and teachers and scouts… no one can put their finger on it. It’s not tangible. It’s intangible. It cannot be tanged.

So then you have to look at the individual. I’ve seen high school athletes who were all-world on their teams and I thought for sure would have long careers, only to see them flake out at the next level. I’ve seen players who were outrageous physical specimens but lacked something internally to take their game to the next level. I’ve seen players who were smart but undersized advance and perform well.

I think part of it is the adjustment to college ball. Here’s my theory: in high school, a team might have one or two players who are all-conference, and maybe one who is all-state. Some teams might have more, or less, but I think that’s a fair average. Those all-whatever players are big stars. They receive all the accolades and all the attention from the colleges.

In college, everyone was all-something. I played D-2 and everyone on our team was named to a post-season team in high school. Imagine what it’s like at D-1. It’s an adjustment. Some players can deal with suddenly being a small fish in a suddenly big pond. Some can’t. Those who can adjust have the best chance to move on.

I’m speaking mostly about the intangibles. Obviously there’s genetics and intelligence and coachability, etc. That’s the part I can understand, and it makes sense to me that only one percent move on to the NFL.

But there’s more to it than that. There’s heart and as I said the ability to adjust.

And there’s the size of his hands.

The professional athletes I have met (it numbers in the hundreds) all have one thing in common that doesn’t get measured at the combines and certainly isn’t on the Wunderlich test.

They all have gigantic hands.

Watch Troy Aikman on the NFL on FOX one weekend. When he gestures with his hands you can see it clearly. He’s a big guy already, but his hands are enormous.

Gordie Howe’s hands are gnarled with age and decades of abuse on the ice in the NHL. And they’re enormous.

Luis Gonzales… big hands.

Tedy Bruschi… big hands.

Shaking hands with Barry Sanders was like shaking hand with a cinder block.

Charles Barkley… huge hands.

My other theory is that it’s all in the hands. And in the adjustment. But mostly in the hands.

Brian is Creative Services Director for FOX 11and My Tucson TV-18.