meaning of 'all-conference', 'safety'

[kjc0123]

What is the meaning of 'all-conference', 'safety' in the following sentence?

 

He was sixteen, a junior, an all-conference quarterback and safety, a kamikaze who loved to hit late and spear with his helmet.

[andy hughes]

It refers to American football - 'all-conference' is a football league, in which the character is a 'quarter back' - a specific position for a player on the field. A 'safety' is a points system awarded for penalties.

[Clanad]

Almost, andy... actually a safety is a line backer that roams the backfield for the defense.  If the ball runner makes it through the line, it's the safety's job to tackle him... sometimes viciously, as indicated by the terms "late hit", and "spear with his helmet" (hit to the upper body area with the top of his helmet with great force).  Both of these actions are heavily penalized, by the way, since they can cause grevious injury.  All Conference, just for added clarification, means that the State in which this high-school junior plays is broken into different conferences.  These are usually based on the sizes of the schools so a large school doesn't play a small school.  After being "All Conference" the player, if good enough could be selected as "All State", and even higher honor and not often achieved (except I have two sons, both of whom were selcted All State)...