The young stars of "Friday Night Lights" (7 p.m., Ch. 5) aren't football players, they just play them on TV.
The actors "actually do run pretty much every play that you see," said Scott Porter (who plays injured quarterback Jason Street). But only to a point.
"We're running every play all the way through until the point where we get smashed," said Zach Gilford (backup QB Matt Saracen). "And then for the bigger hits and stuff, there are some doubles that come in and take that blow."
Sure, you can have the character of Jason Street suffer an injury so severe that's he's paralyzed, but you can't have the actors getting hurt or you won't be able to produce the show.
As is generally the case, the actors playing the high school football players are really in their 20s — they just look young. Some of them did play football; others did not.
"I was a wide receiver," said Taylor Kitsch. "I was pretty skinny when I was younger. ... I played for just two seasons, but I played sports since I was, like, 3 years old, so the transition wasn't really too difficult."
Porter was also wide receiver, playing four years "down in Florida for a team that went to the state semifinals two years running. And I thought it was pressure down there ... but it has to pale in comparison" to Texas high school football.
Ironically, the actor who plays the guy who steps in when the starting quarterback is injured played the opposite role in real life.
"I played, like, a year of defense and then I snapped my leg," said Gilford.
And Gaius Charles, who plays star running back Brian "Smash" Williams, has even more limited football experience.
"I play lots of football — video games, yeah," said Charles, who "did a touch of track and field in high school, but my goal has always been to be an actor, and here I am."
Perhaps most ironic is that Jesse Plemons really was a high school QB in Texas.
"Jess can toss the ball," Gilford said.
"Yes, I can, but yet I don't play in the show," said Plemons, who plays Matt's geeky, non-football-playing friend, Landry Clarke.
And, according to Charles, the actors aren't the only ones pretending to be something they're not on "Friday Night Lights."
"It's an interesting dichotomy, because we, as the actors, step our game up athletically," he said. At the same time, the real football players hired to fill out the team are stepping up as well.
"You kind of see them perk up when they have their helmets off and when they're acting as well, so it works both ways," Charles said.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com