When Tomoya Machino started playing football at Kyoto University, he was new to the game and wanted to play a position he thought was cool.
Machino, a former high school baseball player, was a lot thinner back then and never envisioned becoming an offensive lineman. Shortly after joining the school’s football team, the Gangsters, he submitted his position requests in the following order: tight end, wide receiver and offensive lineman. Noting that one of his taller teammates played wideout, the 197-cm Machino believed taller players would be chosen for the receiving corps.
“They score touchdowns and stuff like that and look cool, don’t they?” Machino told the Japan Times in a Zoom interview late last month. “I wanted to play that position at the time.”