S&C

It should be obvious that the S&C program is instrumental to our success--especially in the trenches. I'm not some sort of know-it-all (or even close to it) when it comes to S&C. About all I know is bench, squat, deadlift, running, and running stairs/bleachers. That, and pulling tractor tires tied to a big rope with a harness. Real Cro-Magnon era stuff.

Post S&C stuff here--our program, and other S&C stuff.
I'm not making any judgment calls about our new S&C staff (yet)...

 

Longhorns Offseason Will See a "Shift Philosophically" Under Sarkisian, Becton


"That begins with the head of the Longhorns strength and conditioning program Torre Becton... So what will be different about the Longhorns new program? If you ask Sarkisian, it will be more about explosiveness and movement than overall strength.

“This is a velocity-based training program that really measures not necessarily so much how much you can lift, but how fast you can move the weight from an explosiveness standpoint, then clearly from a speed standpoint on the field,” Sarkisian said.

The good news for Sarkisian is that he has solid talent on his roster heading into his initial offseason."

 

Texas Strength Coach Torre Becton Focusing on Details - Training & Conditioning

"...when it came to on the field, LongHornsWire noted what felt like an infinite amount of time where players looked outmatched strength-wise." (a few other people might have noticed that too...)

It's mainly our OL that is getting pushed around--especially our O-Tackles. While our DL needs to generate a lot more pressure, and shed blocks quicker, they've been holding the line pretty well; they're not getting pushed 2-3 yards backwards much.

Becton has a Cal, USC, and Washington background.

 

Again, going back to 1983 OL, where Dana LeDuc had 6-7 OL benching over 500 pounds. Having taken HS kids to meet with Dana, I thought this is what Dana was teaching - upper body strength with quickness. Dana's program got some underprivileged kids scholarships to small schools. These were undersized HS kids with no means of college funding, but were honor students.

It worked very well for us (how long were Schrieber & Ruether in the NFL) Steve McMichael was too small and too slow, but lasted 13/14 years in the NFL because of Dana.

Since Dana left (for a National Championship ring in Coral Gables and a Super Bowl ring with the Rams), S&C in Austin has stood for "soft &chubby".

My jury is not out on Becton, the train has left the station, but unfortunately he wasn't on it.

 

This whole thing can be fixed if we just get another sandbox.

 

IMO S&C coaches are a dime a dozen. They all push players to lift weights and run bleachers and strengthen themselves in various ways. None can strenghten a player so that they avoid injury. They all use the same techniques.

 

This year's team has been one of, if not the worst conditioned Texas teams I've seen in awhile. They only have 30 - 45 minutes of playing time at full speed, then they crash, especially in the 4th Qtr., when the guys strength on both sides of the ball disappear like a fart in the wind.

 

I think there's more to it than that. If they're all the same, why would the top programs pay $$$ to an S&C coach, when they could just hire some grad assistant, high school assistant coach, or Gold's Gym trainer for 1/5 the $ (or less).

 

I don't believe its a lack of conditioning for our losses. These young men are in tip-top shape. In every game each player is more tired near the end. This is why depth is super important. In our case in these past two games lack of depth with experience was a big factor plus injuries plus the other team gained momentum at just the right time. Leadership or lack thereof is critical during crunch time. Who is going to make a play? And then there is offensive and defensive play calling in critical moments of the game. I think we floundered in play calling in the last quarter.
We needed a "spark" for inspiration in the fourth quarter for those two games and didn't get it. Personally, i think it was a mistake to not get the ball into the hands of Bijan more often in the fourth on the edges. And if he was drained or tired then let Keilan have a go with his game breaking, fresh speed.
I have said more than once we are underutilizing Keilan. This is an on-going mistake.
And i also think we would only have 1 loss if we were using the Robinsons in the fourth quarter of these last two games.

So i don't blame it on conditioning these kids work out all year long in the off season.

 

S&C programs can be strenuous to very strenuous and include weight lifting, running, and drills for improving agility and footwork. Nutrition is also a big part. How it is set up at UT I have no clue.

 

Usually the S&C rises with the HC when he raises in the the ranks. And then he gets raises also cause the HC is comfortable with his personality and work ethic. That's why not every golds gym trainer is a S&C, though they may be capable.

 

How did Medina's teams do in the 4th quarter?
Do our conditioning problems go back that far?
Did we hold up 4 fingers at the end of the 3rd quarter and wave back then?


(I think I know the answers...)

 

Lots of Leducs players were juiced. But he is pretty much the gold standard for Strength training.

 

No question a combination of conditioning and depth played a key role in our last two loses.

 

A typical NFL game contains 11 minutes of game action. The rest of the ~3.5 hours it takes to finish a game is taken up by halftime, breaks between quarters, timeouts, commercials, and players standing around between plays while the clock continues to run. Also worth noting: The average play lasts four seconds.

College football has different clock rules, so there's probably 12-13 minutes of game action, but for the same reason, the games also take longer to finish. So that's 12-13 minutes of exercise over the course of four hours.

Almost nobody plays both ways, so the average player spends about six minutes playing football. Many starters don't play special teams, so let's round down to five minutes. And because of substitutions, only 3-4 minutes.

If you can't manage 3-4 minutes of exercise in a span of four hours, usually no more than four seconds at a time, go run some laps.

 

Think of line play like this, you’re a 300 lb man and you fire out and hit another 300 lb man, wrestle with him a few seconds, shed the block, sprint a short distance, then thrust your body into a ball carrier and wrestle him to the ground. Short bursts of extremely intense action. Rest and do it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Get some good long distance runners in there…? Or how about just some 240 lb interior linemen with good endurance and low body fat? They’ll look like they’re on roller skates getting pushed 3+ yards backwards by much larger and much stronger men.

Getting the big, big men reasonably well conditioned is an important challenge. And it’s easier said than done.

 

So I've learned on this website that a Gold's Gym trainer would do just as well as a professional college S&C coach. With that in mind, here are some future S&C coaches to interview:

 

I'm no expert in the field, and I don't have the answers, but...

Conditioning issues (and possibly strength issues as well) have got to have at least something to do with our consistent late-game collapses.

 

Lack of depth may be part of it, but it also seems like Sark rotates his backups in less than most coaches. Roschon has pretty much disappeared aside from Wildcat and 3rd & long blocking. We're hardly using Dixon, Money, or Wiley even with Whittington out.

 

We are the best team in the country for the first 3 quarters and the worst in the 4th quarter

 

Better make that first 2 1/2 qtrs. Just sayin.

 

Hornfans circa 1999-2000 with the "sled" posts was probably peak Internet message board stupidity. People going out to Denius to confirm or deny whether the team was using a blocking sled. It was greatness.

 

The only thing roughly on par with that were all those videos posted of fat-dog and the players doing "challenge" drills like pulling on opposite ends of a tire, tug-of-war, etc. with all the "Rah! Rah! Rah!" shouting in the background.

Every time we get a new S&C coach, many fans exclaim "Ah, finally, here's the guy! Now we'll finally have the strongest, toughest, and best-conditioned players, and we'll dominate the trenches." Later on, that guy becomes a moron in the eyes of said fans, and then the next S&C "savior" arrives. (I could say the same for OL coaches) I don't know what our current S&C guy is, or isn't, doing, I just know we've got to get better conditioned. Stronger wouldn't hurt either...

As far as Flood goes, he has a very good OL coach pedigree. The big question is: were his OLs so good because Bama recruited a bunch of 5* O-linemen, or because he can coach??? The jury is still out on him.

If we are ever in need of a new OL coach, I wish we'd talk with Sherman, Bruce Matthews, and/or Brockermeyer.

 

That is the best paragraph you have ever posted

 

It would seem logical to focus on stamina, right? The long haul? 60-minute men?