Football - No Pain No Gain

The AJC tells us that many players are experiencing workouts like they've never experienced before in spring conditioning. They go into some detail on the workout regimine, which I suspect came from the same Navy discussion board that I found this:

Stretching starts at 0545, standard Coach Brass pre-practice/game routine

The football players all wear practice jerseys, other mids are allowed to come out as well.

There are 7 stations spread all over the whole field. Each station is split up into two lines. There is one coach per line, so two coaches per station

Station 1: Hoops, there are two large hoops (6 or 7' in diameter) laid next to each other, forming a figure 8 shape. Players basically run a figure 8 around the two hoops. The emphasis is on speed while constantly changing direction and staying low.

Station 2: Towels, the configuration of the towels varies, but the idea stays the same. Players put one hand down on the towel and run one full circle around it, then move to the next towel, alternating hands and direction each time. The emphasis is on exploding out of the turn and accelerating to the next towel.

Station 3: M-Drill, 5 cones are arranged like the dots on the mat drill. Players face forward at a top corner and backpedal first to the bottom corner, run forward to the middle cone, backpedal to the bottom corner opposite the starting side, and finally run forward through the final top corner cone (all the way through...or else up downs). The emphasis is changing direction and the all important finish through the line.

Station 4: Pro-shuttle, two players face eachother and essentially race the pro-shuttle drill. Start in the middle- five yards to the right, ten yards back to the left, finish five yards back to the right through the starting line. This is the same drill done by most combines. The emphasis is on change of direction/quickness.

Station 5: Bags, 6 big blocking bags are laid out in a

I I I I I I

shape. Coaches have players run through, weave around, jump over in any number of combinations. This emphasizes speed, agility, quickness.

Station 6: Ladders, rope ladders are put down and players run straight through, sideways, hop-skotch, and any other weird step that the coach decides to do.

Station 7: Wave drill (aka Coach Green's drill), three players line up in single file facing the coach, knees chopping. The coach points right or left and the players shuffle that direction to a cone on either side of them then back to the middle. When the coach is satisfied with the trio, he waves them on and they sprint past him. The finish here is half the battle. Bad finish = up downs. The emphasis here is on changing direction/agility, and the finish.

The 7 different groups are organized by position. Other midshipmen are scattered into the various groups. I dont know why anyone would want to come out, but the extra bodies make the lines a little bit longer, and you get a few more seconds to rest. The whole cycle is done through once the first time, generally spending 2.5-3 minutes on each station. Then everyone sprints to the next station (lack of effort leads to everyone going back and repeating the previous station). There is a 4-5 minute break after the first go-through. The second time through is much like the
first, only there is no break, and everyone goes right into the third cycle.

During the third cycle, after each station ends, KN gets a thumbs up or down
from each coach. If all coaches give a thumbs up, 4th quarters are done for the day. If a single coach gives a thumb down, everyone rotates to the next station,
and this process continues until every coach gives a thumbs up. Generally the whole thing is done around 0700, just enough time to shower, grab some breakfast, and go to class.

Finishing my last 4th quarters was the happiest moment of my life...until beating ND, which was pretty cool. "

So we don't know exactly what they're running, but it's safe to say it's some variation of that routine. I was saving that post until the end of the weekend, but the AJC beat me too it. They wrote a good article and it was certainly encouraging if you're a Tech fan. It's all part of the process of building that mental toughness.

Also, the Sporting News tells us about spring by leading with the fact that Paul Johnson ain't gonna give much info at this point.