Strength by The Beast - Coach Herbert's influence being seen
"Days after the Michigan football team lost its Jan. 1 Outback Bowl game to South Carolina, Devin Bush, Jr.'s cell phone lit up.
It was a text message from an unfamiliar number with an uncomfortable question.
"Who is this?," the text read.
Bush, admittedly annoyed by this point that an unknown number reached out to him asking that question, soon found out who was on the other end.
It was Ben Herbert, Michigan's new strength and conditioning director. And he wasn't there to just introduce himself. He wanted Bush and his teammates in the gym.
"I'm like, 'Coach, we just got off a game,'" Bush said. "'We need rest.'
"He's like, 'Nah, there ain't no time for rest. You got a lot of things to accomplish with your team, (and) yourself. Let's get rolling.'"
"Everything that we did was completely new," said Bush, who enters his junior season at linebacker. "Lifts we had never done before, variations running-wise, field work that we had never done before. It was all new to us."
Three months in, the new staff seems to already be paying dividends. Earlier this week, defensive coordinator Don Brown, directly crediting Herbert and his staff, marveled at how fast his side of the ball has looked through three spring practices.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2018/03/michigan_footballs_new_strengt_1.html
Credit: Mlive.com, 3/29/18, Aaron McCann
No thank you for playing!
We get that your vantage point sweeps back over decades, but we really are just talking about NOW right here. You are no more or less entitled to your jaded cynicism than others are to their buoyant optimism!
Go Blue!
EDIT: WHOA! Negged for saying Go Blue - on a Michigan blog!
get outta here sparty!!!
The premise of your post was that this sort of sentiment comes about every time a new S & C coach is hired. My point is that literally the last time, and only other time under Harbaugh, that UM football hired a S & C coach there were groans that he didn't get the top guy and settled for Tolbert.
Well personally I wasn't all that happy with the Wellman hire. Didn't know enough about Tolbert to form an opinion.
March 30th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
fitness is only one measure and it's poorly communicated.
Just win.
March 30th, 2018 at 10:55 AM ^
As Stu McGill said "The best athletes rarely outperform their peers in pre-season testing like bench pressing and squatting. Their distinguishing qualities are motor control. The ability to exert strength quickly, deactivate muscle quickly, and optimally project forces throughout the body linkage is characteristic of this skill."
March 30th, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
Well far be it from me to contradict Stu McGill ferchrissakes!
But... as "playing the game" is only allowed during the season, all they really can do to try to get better during the off-season is work on strength, balance and endurance. Oh, and get "coached up!"
And if the players are bought in that they're improving, then I'm with em!!!
March 30th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
It's not with or against. No one is arguing that an S&C program is not advisable or doesn't help. The point being made is that people make a bigger deal of how much a guy lifts, his 40 time, or his vertical jump will impact his on field playing success. This is why the NFL Combine is not very predictive of NFL success when compared to analyzing the athletes on field play.
Al Davis is rolling over in his grave at that blasphemy!
He worked on the theory that you always select the best clay, because your superior craftsmanship will make them better than a player that may have been more productive.
FWIW I agree with you, and mocked the legion of Raidaz fans I'm surrounded by for Al's myopia.
But in this instance we're addressing today, it's Don Brown and the players making the big deal, so...
March 30th, 2018 at 10:05 PM ^
Yeah, I think the best clay is often misunderstood. It's not who looks the best, who is the biggest, who is the fastest, or who is the most muscular that is the best clay. The best clay is the guy that plays the best on the field. I think this gets misinterpreted often, ala Moneyball idea that ugly looking, but effective guys are undervalued in favor of bigger guys with stronger arms and more power, yet are inconsistent players.
An example would be that Marshall Faulk and Jerry Rice were superior football players that would get out-performed by their peers in combine tests, but would drastically outperform those same guys on the field. This is the same reason why Mike Hart was way better than Justin Fargas or Clarence Williams. Why Tom Brady is way better than Drew Henson. Why Jake Ryan was way better than RJS. The list goes on and on. The clay is their ability to predict and react to what happens in the game of football. It is not how muscular they are, how fast they can run the 40, or how much they can lift. People mistake a dude that looks jacked with a dude that is good at football. He may be jacked (or fast or jump high etc.), but in fact not be that great at playing the game. Being jacked isn't the clay. Being good at football is. Having both is nice, but one is way more important than the other, but often choosen wrongly.
March 30th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
This feels like typical offseason stuff and trying to rationalize sub-par performance last year. Maybe S&C had something to do with it. But the defense was still dominate. It was just poor QB play, uninspired offensive strategy/playcalling (until the OSU game), bad luck, and above all, poor OL play (and that's technique and learning how to pick up a damn stunt). Last year didn't feel like they got overpowered.
March 30th, 2018 at 11:14 AM ^
March 30th, 2018 at 11:20 PM ^
One of the reasons Ben Herbert was hired was because of his conditioning success late in games, and late in the season. Michigan was not good in both areas the last 2 seasons. Michigan didn't seem to be able to stop Ohio St. in the 4th qtr. the last 2 years. Ohio St. was strongest then. And not just against Michigan. Ohio St.'s 4th qtr. against Penn St. last year was very impressive. We will definitely know in the 4th qtr. of the last game of the regular season against Ohio St. if hiring Ben Herbert was a good move.
March 30th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
when i change workout routines, I get sore and i struggle doing the new routine because i am not used to it. being sore feels like progress.
when you change coaches it is the same thing. new routine, new struggles.
March 30th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
Let's stop with the off-season nonsense. Show up ready to go in the fall.
Good idea, lets shut down the board until the fall.
March 30th, 2018 at 11:45 AM ^
March 30th, 2018 at 11:54 AM ^
Fantastic!
Among other reasons, yes!
triple post
triple post
Cool and it does seem like the guys are bonding if nothing else. Success of S&C will be measured (at least for me) in the running game - can OL maul opposing DL's? - and 4th quarter performance. Team with no energy late in games, especially when it really counts.
Call me Mr. Tunnel Vision but I find it difficult to focus on football topics with Final 4 weekend upon us.
March 30th, 2018 at 10:55 PM ^
I seem to notice a difference in Zach Gentry in the video from 2 days ago. A bigger, faster, stronger Zach Gentry can make a Michigan guy happy.
video