Stongest Player on the Team?

[TexasTideFan]

Since we don't really have a formal event anymore like the NOC, I was curious who get's the distinctive honor of being the stongest player on the roster? Anybody in T-town keep up with the players offseason workouts and how they like Coach Johnston? I knew that when Coach Pollard joined the staff we went from having only a handful of guys pressing over 400 to more than half the team. Are we still seeing the same results?

 

[jdpas29]

pound for pound across the board i would say DeMeco Ryans is one of the strongest. just guessing though.

the guys on the LOS will always squat the most... maybe Jeremy Clark or Rudy Griffin might take that record.

bench press... Justin Britt

 

[TommyMac]

Pound for pound, probably Kenneth Darby or Ramzee Robinson. They pushed each other in HS to see which one could be the first to bench 400 lbs. KD won, but Bino wasn't far behind.

 

[TexasTideFan]

The reason I ask is I work out with several Ag's that know almost to the pound every weight each player is lifting in College Station. I felt it would support the cause if I could at least sound a little knowledgable about Bama since they basically have our entire former regime over there.

 

[Bama-94-00]

Bench press

The bench press is a fine lift, but it by itself is not the best indicator of strength for football. Lower body is not involved with bench.

 

[BamaSully]

Go back and tell them our new strength coach was one of the best in the NFL, 'till he came to Bama.

They say he focuses on conditioning and flexibility as much or more than brute strength.

Pollard's main focus is brute strength. Franchione used to say that if two guys were scrappin' and one of them had a 350 lb bench and the other had a 450 lb bench, he'd go with the 450 lb guy.

In a 60-minute football game, I'll take the 350 lb guy, if he has superior athletic ability, better conditioning and more flexibility.

Pollard's methods may be best for d-linemen, where brute strength is of the essence and you have a 10-man rotation to keep everyone fresh. I'll bet Kent Johnston does the same thing with our linemen. But I bet you wont see Keith Brown and D.J. Hall being pushed really hard to get their bench over 350 lbs! They are probably working hard on things like speed, agility, and leaping ability.

However, I would also like to see some bench and squat stats for this year's team. Anybody know anything?

-Sully

 

[TIDE-HSV]

There...

is a real difference in what the demands are for different styles of offense, in particular. For Fran's option style offense, brute power is more at a premium. As noted above, the lower body is equally - really more important - than the bench press. Short levers are important in the BP. Being short, with proportionally shorter arms, I've always been strong in teh BP and MP also. It requires less total force, the shorter the levers are. Another thing I found out after Fran left was that a lot of the numbers were really "smoke and mirrors" - all sorts of institutional fudging. This comes from the players...

 

[beercop]

I was recruited by an old coach that told me those numbers don't mean squat. Pardon the pun. Ability, desire and a mean streak are more important.

 

[TommyMac]

Go back and tell them our new strength coach was one of the best in the NFL, 'till he came to Bama.

They say he focuses on conditioning and flexibility as much or more than brute strength.

Pollard's main focus is brute strength. Franchione used to say that if two guys were scrappin' and one of them had a 350 lb bench and the other had a 450 lb bench, he'd go with the 450 lb guy.

In a 60-minute football game, I'll take the 350 lb guy, if he has superior athletic ability, better conditioning and more flexibility.

Pollard's methods may be best for d-linemen, where brute strength is of the essence and you have a 10-man rotation to keep everyone fresh. I'll bet Kent Johnston does the same thing with our linemen. But I bet you wont see Keith Brown and D.J. Hall being pushed really hard to get their bench over 350 lbs! They are probably working hard on things like speed, agility, and leaping ability.

However, I would also like to see some bench and squat stats for this year's team. Anybody know anything?

-Sully

Brute strength wasn't Coach Pollard's main focus, it was fRan's. He said after fRan left that he preferred a program that was more focused on football movements, but fRan liked the focus on power. Coach Pollard is highly regarded as a S&C coach, as is Coach Johnston.

 

[davefrat]

is a real difference in what the demands are for different styles of offense, in particular. For Fran's option style offense, brute power is more at a premium. As noted above, the lower body is equally - really more important - than the bench press. Short levers are important in the BP. Being short, with proportionally shorter arms, I've always been strong in teh BP and MP also. It requires less total force, the shorter the levers are. Another thing I found out after Fran left was that a lot of the numbers were really "smoke and mirrors" - all sorts of institutional fudging. This comes from the players...

you're totally right about this. i can outbench guys who are much taller, larger, and leaner than i am...because i'm built like a cannon ball with arms. but i'm slow as a turtle and my vertical jump might get me over a speed bump on a good day.

in case you all were wondering, my wife obviously married me because of my brad pitt-like physique.

 

[TexasTideFan]

Another thing I found out after Fran left was that a lot of the numbers were really "smoke and mirrors" - all sorts of institutional fudging. This comes from the players...

So what your saying is the guys weren't as strong as they were reported. If I remember correctly, I heard an interview from Jared Johnston after Fran's first year and he made a comment that it was Coach Pollard who personally helped half the team go over 400 on the bench. Maybe, it was "smoke and mirrors" but at least during the NOC, you could actually see the players make the various lifts. I wish they would bring it back.

As for the bench press, there's a reason the NFL guys use it as a baseline at the Combine. It's a great judge of upper body strength because it incorporates so many different muscle groups. Also, I agree felxibility is important but I would rate brute strength as more important if I were making a pick between one or the other and I'll give an example. Take Larry Allen, OL for the Cowboys, who benches close to 700 pounds. He's not near as flexible as most of the OL in the NFL but his brute strength, along with his size, has made him one of the best lineman to play the game.

 

[ROLLER]

That's True, but....

in Larry Allen's prime he was as athletic as any lineman gets. Just ask Emmitt Smith, but I'm sure you know that if you are from Texas. Go Boys, BTW. I hope Jerry does stick with Henson and over rides Bill's want for Bledsoe, too. :wink:

 

[Boclive]

I always thought kickers were the strangest players on the team. :biggrin:

 

[TexasTideFan]

in Larry Allen's prime he was as athletic as any lineman gets. Just ask Emmitt Smith, but I'm sure you know that if you are from Texas. Go Boys, BTW. I hope Jerry does stick with Henson and over rides Bill's want for Bledsoe, too. :wink:

I'm actually a Texans fan but I am impressed by any player, regardless of who they play for, that can stack 14 wheels on a bar and put it up.

 

[BamaSully]

TommyMac,

Thank you for the clarification. It was Fran who was so focused on brute strength.

TexasTideFan,

I agree that brute strength may be the best indicator of a lineman's football conditioning, but it is not the best indicator for most other positions.

Don't get me wrong. I was very, very excited about all the strength gains during Pollard's tenure. I really loved having those numbers available to us fans. That was cool to me. However, my position is, I am perfectly satisfied with Johnston right now.

-Sully