players stronger after offseason program

[aubiefifty 18,231]

al.com

 

Auburn players stronger, more confident after new offseason program

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-7 minutes

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Owen Pappoe smiled, and then he flexed, raising both arms above his shoulders and showing off his biceps for the camera.

Auburn’s junior linebacker had reason to flaunt his stuff this week as the Tigers’ began spring practice. After a grueling seven-week offseason workout program under new strength and conditioning coach Jeff Pitman and staff, Pappoe felt like a million bucks.

“Man, we’re going to look like some Marines come fall, I’m telling you,” Pappoe said.

Pappoe, who former coaches have said could have been an Olympic powerlifter had he taken that route early on, called Pitman’s offseason workout regimen “crazy” and was one of several Tigers to rave about the program’s new approach in the weight room since Bryan Harsin hired Pitman to oversee that aspect of the program.

It was Pitman, not offensive coordinator Mike Bobo or defensive coordinator Derek Mason, who was the first hire announced to Harsin’s staff back on Jan. 5. That felt significant and like an early statement by Harsin about how he wants to reshape the program.

It was going to begin in the weight room, and Pitman was the man he tasked with that undertaking. Auburn is the third different school the two have worked at together, and their relationship dates back more than 20 years. Pitman was the head strength coach at Boise State in 1999, during Harsin’s final season playing for the Broncos.

The two then worked together on staff at their alma mater from 2002-06, when Harsin was a position coach and then offensive coordinator and Pitman was still overseeing the strength program. When Harsin got his first head coaching opportunity at Arkansas State in 2013, he tabbed Pitman as strength coach for the program. Pitman has managed the strength and conditioning program for Harsin’s team in each of the last eight seasons, including during Harsin’s entire head coaching tenure at Boise State, before following him to Auburn this offseason.

“There’s a new way as far as the training part goes,” Harsin said. “There’s some new things that we did. I think everybody was really trying to make sure that they’re doing their best at what it is they were asked to do. So, I thought the attitude and effort of the entire team was very good. Early on, it was challenging. And as they got stronger and got better, it wasn’t so much the workouts got easier. I think it was just our players got better as the workouts went on.”

It was a different kind of approach in the weight room compared to years past, when Ryan Russell was in charge as strength and conditioning coach. Russell is a well-respected strength coach who spent eight seasons at Auburn and is now at Missouri — and who also previously worked at Arkansas State and Boise State during his career — and he relied on a staged approach in the weight room that also leaned on plyometric training and body-weight exercises.

Players saw their numbers improve under Russell as they progressed through the various levels of his program, but there wasn’t a big emphasis on single-rep maxes. That changed this offseason under Pitman, with the final week of the seven-week program focused on one-rep max lifts. Pitman and staff also awarded Iron Men of the Week honors to two players each week, while they also had players work on speed and agility, change-of-direction drills and competition-driven team-building exercises.

“One of the biggest differences was — with Coach Russell, we did a few reps for max instead of one rep for max,” center Nick Brahms said. “It’s not better or worse; it’s just different. So, I think that’s probably the biggest difference — we probably lift heavier weights.”

That max week was capped with a “Friday night lights” workout that saw the entire weight room dimmed, except the lights above whichever weight rack was being used, as players gathered around and cheered on their teammates as they tried to set new personal records.

Pappoe said he set new maxes in every major workout during that week, while Brahms said many of the Tigers’ offensive linemen hit “big numbers” on squat, bench press and cleans. Safety Smoke Monday said he felt stronger for it, too, adding that he could tell there was an increased level of confidence throughout the team heading into the spring after its offseason workout program.

“It’s big, because like Coach Pitman is a great, great, great man,” running back Tank Bigsby said. “He’s always about hitting it, and we’re going to hit it, heavy weight, running, everything like that. We wasn’t big on moving a lot of heavy weight last year, but we move a lot of weight this year.”

It resulted in 17 players adding at least 10 pounds from their listed playing weight last season, while another eight added at least eight pounds, with notable gains on both the offensive and defensive lines, as well as in the tight end room. Players like Bigsby, Pappoe and fellow linebacker Zakoby McClain, quarterback Bo Nix and offensive lineman Tashawn Manning were among the biggest standouts of the offseason, according to Harsin, and it set the tone for the expectations of the players heading into their first season under a new coach.

“Oh yeah, they got us big in the weight room,” McClain said. “Got us doing a lot of stuff in the weight room making sure we’re getting right so we’re game ready and stuff.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[japantiger 4,117]

Interesting read.  There was a lot of criticism of the new coaches approach (called old school) when he was hired.  The kids seem to think it works.  

[Barnacle 9,107]

21 minutes ago, japantiger said:

Interesting read.  There was a lot of criticism of the new coaches approach (called old school) when he was hired.  The kids seem to think it works.  

Question is ultimately whether it translates to the field. 

The psychological aspect of strength and conditioning is just as important as the physical, and I'm excited about what Pittman will bring in that regard. 

[AuburnEagle79 2,188]

I hope we have an edge about us that we haven't had in quite some time. I don't know enough about the different weight lifting strategies to weigh in there (pun intended), but the change in mentality and toughness seems to be a positive thing. 

[Rednilla 5,447]

I do like pushing the max sets at this point, but I wonder if they'll be using the same approach all the way through to preseason camp? It makes sense to build the max strength some, but I don't know how good an idea it is to go completely away from endurance strength. Of course, I'm no expert in anything to do with biology or health or whatever, I just remember what my own high school strength coach (a retired army sniper...who is kinda crazy, in the best kind of way) and how much he pushed endurance strength.

Then again, we didn't get any good until the year after I left, and that head coach never did particularly well at my high school (made the playoffs a couple of years, but never advanced any), so maybe that should tell me something. Still, I think it's probable that my high school coaches did kinda like Gus in taking the endurance strength idea too far...and, of course, we DID run the Wing T out of the shotgun, which is essentially what Gus did...but I just hope we don't go too far in the other direction with it.

Regardless, though, for right now I'm going to trust Harsin and hope that this enthusiasm that's building amongst the players is a sign of things to come.

[toddc 13,197]

10 hours ago, Rednilla said:

I do like pushing the max sets at this point, but I wonder if they'll be using the same approach all the way through to preseason camp? It makes sense to build the max strength some, but I don't know how good an idea it is to go completely away from endurance strength. Of course, I'm no expert in anything to do with biology or health or whatever, I just remember what my own high school strength coach (a retired army sniper...who is kinda crazy, in the best kind of way) and how much he pushed endurance strength.

Then again, we didn't get any good until the year after I left, and that head coach never did particularly well at my high school (made the playoffs a couple of years, but never advanced any), so maybe that should tell me something. Still, I think it's probable that my high school coaches did kinda like Gus in taking the endurance strength idea too far...and, of course, we DID run the Wing T out of the shotgun, which is essentially what Gus did...but I just hope we don't go too far in the other direction with it.

Regardless, though, for right now I'm going to trust Harsin and hope that this enthusiasm that's building amongst the players is a sign of things to come.

We have a whole team of s/c coaches now with great credentials so I think they’ve got this. The coaches thread, with the part on s/c coaches, was posted about more this year than I ever remember.

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

We have a whole team of s/c coaches now with great credentials so I think they’ve got this. The coaches thread, with the part on s/c coaches, was posted about more this year than I ever remember.

It does feel much more like a "department" approach, as with other aspects of the program. (see: all the additional off-field staff)

The head S&C guy has an old-school, bench press and squats powerlifting mentality, but he sure has a bunch of credentials, as you pointed out, helping him implement Harsin's vision. The change feels right. Even if Harsin doesn't work out or moves on, this feels like a much more modern, appropriate, and competent template for how the program should be structured. 

[Rednilla 5,447]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

We have a whole team of s/c coaches now with great credentials so I think they’ve got this. The coaches thread, with the part on s/c coaches, was posted about more this year than I ever remember.

Yeah, I'm not overly concerned about it. I was more rambling than anything else.

[ToomersStreet 798]

S&S has been older players big criticism of Malzahn.  Gus wanted to revolutionize football.  We did more body weight and high rep work under Ryan.  We also had, what at least seemed more injuries when Ryan was strength coach.  Mental toughness is built in the weight room and during hard practices.  We had neither under Gus.  Harsins approach isn't new, it's the norm.  Our players will be bigger and stronger both physically and mentally with this traditional approach.

[IronMan70 3,322]

Continued serious strength training during the summer and the OL/DL ought to be where they should be. So far it's been encouraging.

[Sani-Freeze 552]

1 hour ago, ToomersStreet said:

S&S has been older players big criticism of Malzahn.  Gus wanted to revolutionize football.  We did more body weight and high rep work under Ryan.  We also had, what at least seemed more injuries when Ryan was strength coach.  Mental toughness is built in the weight room and during hard practices.  We had neither under Gus.  Harsins approach isn't new, it's the norm.  Our players will be bigger and stronger both physically and mentally with this traditional approach.

I think it was Will Adams who played under both staffs and recently said he thought Russell's approach was good for agility and preventing injuries. Seemed to think that Pitman's approach was a little outdated. So it will be interesting to watch the next few years and see if there is a discernible difference. But I tend to think most injuries are just bad luck rather than a result of poor conditioning. And it's been pretty clear in recent years that we need to get bigger and stronger so I'm good with the change. 

[ToomersStreet 798]

7 hours ago, Sani-Freeze said:

I think it was Will Adams who played under both staffs and recently said he thought Russell's approach was good for agility and preventing injuries. Seemed to think that Pitman's approach was a little outdated. So it will be interesting to watch the next few years and see if there is a discernible difference. But I tend to think most injuries are just bad luck rather than a result of poor conditioning. And it's been pretty clear in recent years that we need to get bigger and stronger so I'm good with the change. 

Russell's might have been aimed at preventing injuries in the weight room, I assume, since the emphasis on body weight work.  Truly we would have to do a deep dive to see the on field injury differences.  I would say we are getting back to the Kevin Yoxall days