Why would any parent push their child to play RB?

The parents don't always have a say-so, and a lot of running backs were raised by a mom or grandma that doesn't take into account things like earnings per position.

The best athletes play QB or RB in youth sports, the culture of winning at that level is long and deep rooted. "Hey, this kid can fly, let's put him at corner and totally negate him from any action"

You don't see youth coaches with that mindset

And despite the knowledge that a kid can make more money if he's a good corner, kids still want the glory. Running backs get to score touchdowns and get their name in the paper

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And despite the knowledge that a kid can make more money if he's a good corner, kids still want the glory.

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hence why i think we, as a society, should have this discussion. i think we can educate these kids into making more optimal decisions

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hence why i think we, as a society, should have this discussion. i think we can educate these kids into making more optimal decisions

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Kids will always want to win. Putting your best athlete at corner in a low-level football game doesn't help you win.

If they have the athletic skill set to play another position, they will have that option in college and will likely be encouraged to do so.

Up until college, a lot of these guys are playing on both sides of the ball and on these lower levels you put you stud at QB or RB.

Once they are being recruited, a lot of these players don't want to give up the ball. They see it as a demotion to play LB.

If this was true everyone that isn't a 5 star or high 4 star RB would do it by college

Yeah I don't think a parent is going to 1) put their foot down and insist their stud son play corner instead of QB or RB where they could help the team more (in the early years of developmental football especially, but even through HS); or 2) win that battle with the coach.

It seems like it's just a product of the relative development of different positions. In youth football, corners don't affect the game nearly as much as RB. QBs aren't developed so you aren't taking away as much value from the opposition. And there isn't as much physical parity so a RB can completely dominate a defense.

Now if they play the kid both ways, sure, best of both worlds. But at each stage prior to college (in which case they're auditioning for the NFL and get the most value out of exposure at their specific position), exposure in general is more attainable via the RB position than other positions that eventually become more valuable as the game develops.

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only if they're being rational and making the most optimal economic choices for themselves

they clearly are not

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I don't know about others' experiences, but high school coaches I've been around that are worth anything would never put up with their best athlete refusing to play QB or RB. It's not their job to develop professional football players, even if you could actually make a solid argument that playing RB in HS actually has a negative impact on development to be a pro at another position.

The best players will find their way to the top way more often than not.

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if you're athletic enough to play RB, then you can play LB, DB, WR, or DE

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A) RB gets more glory than any of those positions. Some people care about that.

B) just because you can play RB, doesn't mean you can play those positions. Not every RB has the hands to play WR, or the hips to play DB, can hit like a LB, or moves to play DE. And a lot of guys that play offense just don't have the same mind set that defensive guys play, you need a mean streak and to love to hit people.

I understand the point, but RB is the glory position. I remember playing youth football, no one would care that I had 5 pancakes and 5 tackles while playing both sides. But my rb friend, everyone would be in love with him because he scored three touchdowns. That is just the matter of the game.

If we are being honest. About 95% of football players want to play the offensive skill positions. Eventually most give that dream up. (Lineman realize they're too fat, DB's realize they can't catch and don't like getting hit, and LB's realize they have absolutely 0 vision.)

Usually by college this sort of thing weeds itself out. Everyone who is not in their best position will usually end up changing. But, that is not always the case.