College football offseason thread

I never played the game. But I've often wondered about the relevance of these things. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't recall hearing of service academy cadets dying in training. And it's not like their lives are easy or the work is trivial.

 

Probably right. A lot of these drills are about "mental toughness" pushing players past their limit. I figure a S&C coach on the way up isn't going to make a name for himself turning the scrubs from a MAC school into world beaters - you make a name for yourself by developing a new drill, bringing in SEALS for a day, or something. Figure the coach who brought the tractor tires in one day is in the S&C hall of fame.

 

There's an old saying that if you're not tired then you haven't worked hard enough. The goal of every workout is to go a little further than you did the day before, or to push yourself a little harder than you thought you could go.
That said, there is no earthly reason why, in 2018, any athlete should be pushed so far past their limits that they die of heatstroke. There has been so much education and emphasis on preventing this very thing over the past 15-20 years that it's malpractice on every single level of the organization for it to happen.

 

Lack of knowledge of physiology and an age-old philosophy of "run' 'em 'til they drop" is what causes too many of these deaths. Football coaches, as a whole, don't know jack shit about effective and efficient physical training methods. They still think they can make their boys TOUGH by working the crap out of them.

Player misses an assignment in practice? RUN HIM! Player misses a tackle in practice? RUN HIM! Player farts during your inspiring speech? RUN HIM!

 

How did The Junction Boys not die? I heard the theory that air conditioning has created such a great variance in temperature that the heat is a greater shock now than decades ago. Clueless but curious.

 

When’s “Junction Boys” on again?

 

People forget, that team went 1-9.

 

Those things you mentioned are more about mental toughness than physical toughness. The player associates physical discomfort with his mistake and strives not to have it happen again. No different than a toddler learning not to touch a hot stove by touching it. Like it or not, there are merits to the RUN HIM! approach. Physically fit young men are not delicate flowers who are going to crack like an egg by doing a little extra PT. When they RUN HIM! it should be no more dangerous than any extra workout.
Honestly, few if any of these deaths seem to happen during those disciplinary sessions. Maybe because it's just one or a handful of guys the supervising coach can more easily keep an eye on. Most of the deaths seem to happen during big group workouts where the players probably get lost in the shuffle and no one -- not even them -- realizes they're in trouble until it's too late.

 

Sorry, man, but the idea of building mental toughness through physical punishment is largely bullshit.

 

Seems like that would distract a player worried about getting punished than keeping them focused on the play at hand. I figure most players want to do what they are supposed to do. Now if they show no interest in that - skipping class, showing up late for practice? Sure.
Best practices would be to design drills that encourage teamwork and finding solutions than making it an every man for himself deal.

 

Aren't a lot of the summer workouts unsupervised, or did the NCAA change that too?

 

Strength coaches can attend all off-season "voluntary workouts" for safety purposes only. The irony abounds. Teams can have full on workouts and practice scrimmages as long as nothing is communicated to coaches or the practice is recorded. I have to think there is a designated player who gets the workout plan from a coach right?