I started when I was in sixth grade, playing Pop Warner. I played running back, quarterback, cornerback... all over the place.
I try to prove that I can be either a wide receiver or a flex tight end. Put me in the slot, put me out wide, put me wherever you want, but I can play both.
I was a quarterback in pee-wee football. I always wanted to be quarterback. They're the leaders, they make the calls. It didn't work out because I didn't have the arm. I also played wide receiver my senior year in high school.
In eighth grade, I was actually better in football. I played running back, wide receiver, and safety - just like Allen Iverson.
If you go off the Senior Bowl, that's basically what I can do. I played H-back, I played fullback, I played tight end, I played slot receiver, I ran routes, I caught some balls, blocked, just doing that stuff.
I played wide receiver in high school; then I went to college at Ball State and played safety.
Most people would say safety was my best position. To me, the biggest challenge and most gratifying thing I got out of playing football was playing corner, because it was a bigger challenge than playing safety. Playing corner provided me my biggest thrills and my biggest headaches.
Balotelli can play as a striker, as a winger.
Before I signed for Liverpool, I was playing for Newcastle as a No. 10 - basically, I was always attacking. I didn't have to do much defensive work; I didn't play as the No. 6 or the No. 8.
The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.
In modern day football, you've got to play in different positions. I've played in numerous positions, apart from centre-back and goalkeeper, I think.
I played every position, from right tackle to quarterback and everything in between.
A lot of times, I got confused for a kicker. And I've been compared to every white player in the NFL.
I have no problem lining up running back, tight end, or fullback.
It didn't seem fair that no matter how many passes I caught or how many touchdowns I scored, I was considered a 'lowly tight end' and would never be paid anywhere close to a salary as high as the elite wide receivers.
I think the No. 9 will always be in football. You need the proper No. 9s in football; that's my opinion.
In the past, you would have been classed as a sweeper if you were put in the middle of a three-man defence.
When I was switching around in my early stages, people underestimated how difficult it was just to go from playing centre midfield to right-back to centre-back to right-back to centre midfield.
As a junior in high school, I had some injury problems with my arm and shoulder from baseball, so I didn't play quarterback as a junior. I played a little wide receiver, linebacker, and safety.
I want to play football, and I want to help the team. It doesn't matter if I play midfield, if I play in defence, if I play as a striker.
I think I'm more than capable of playing in positions such as right-back, centre-back and centre-mid.
I don't think running backs have ever been under-valued.
I am actually comfortable in every position in midfield. At Bayern Munich, I even played as a winger and sometimes a full-back, so I can play many different positions.
For me, there are no 'between players' in football. For me, there are clear positions and clear characteristics for all players.
I became stiff as a safety, and so I had to learn to move like a corner and think like a corner.
