AP: Eating Better in the Power 5

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
At Nebraska, athletes dine on specially made entrees such as mahi mahi steaks, bison meatloaf or chicken marsala at the Lewis Training Table.

At Akron, athletic director Larry Williams can only hope his athletes skip the fried stuff at the Robertson Dining Hall buffet and any runs to fast-food restaurants.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that have poured into the Power Five conferences, much of it from television rights fees, have enriched dozens of schools and allowed them to give their athletes the best of everything, right down to what they eat every day. Schools outside the Power Five draw far less revenue and many provide the same dining options available to non-athletes on campus.

Nebraska, for example, will spend $3.3 million this year on athlete nutrition. In addition to the high-quality food at the training table and healthy snacks at fueling stations, the budget covers a director of food service, executive chef, registered sports dietitian and three assistants, and more than a dozen other staffers.

Akron will spend less than $100,000 on athlete nutrition, most of that for feeding athletes when campus dining services are closed. No one is there to monitor their food choices, though men's basketball players occasionally consult with a nutritionist who is the wife of the team physician and volunteers her time.

"It's sort of the untold story that is really affecting college athletics and is emblematic of that disparity that is continuing to grow," Williams said.
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http://dataomaha.com/media/sports/2017/huskers/college-football-preview/player-cookbook/

lee.jpg


 
That 3.3M isn't money well spent based on that article. I shouldn't criticize but shouldn't offensive linemen have some muscles to go with that Michelin man tire body? I guess not if they're eating pancakes and ice cream.

 
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I should've been a football player. I'd eat scallops, salmon, and cherries every single day.

 
This is ridiculous.   There's what, maybe 400 student athletes that get the benefits of our sports nutrition budget.  That's over 8 grand per year per player for food.   Props to the university for being able to foot that bill but that is just a ridiculous amount of money to spend.  

 
Crazyhole said:
This is ridiculous.   There's what, maybe 400 student athletes that get the benefits of our sports nutrition budget.  That's over 8 grand per year per player for food.   Props to the university for being able to foot that bill but that is just a ridiculous amount of money to spend.  
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People make these comments about everything, but these players are making ridiculous amounts of money for other people, so it makes sense to spend money on them. They're highly profitable, and one of the most important things about them is how good of physical shape they're in.

 
Crazyhole said:
This is ridiculous.   There's what, maybe 400 student athletes that get the benefits of our sports nutrition budget.  That's over 8 grand per year per player for food.   Props to the university for being able to foot that bill but that is just a ridiculous amount of money to spend.  
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So the thing about the training table is all students can eat there and probably members of the public as well, you just have to register.  I recently graduated from UNL and I ate at the training table.  It's considered a restaurant and because it would technically be discrimination for them to only offer to specific people so, the must by law make it open to everyone.  So I assume that that budget accounts for all of the people that eat there.

 
People need to get over the whole "OL are fat" thing.  Offensive linemen have to be fat to weigh 300+ lbs (yes there are outliers, like Tyron Smith).  This isn't 1983 when Steinkuhler and Rimmington weighed 250lbs.  All CFB/NFL teams have fat O-linemen.

 
Red Five said:
People need to get over the whole "OL are fat" thing.  Offensive linemen have to be fat to weigh 300+ lbs (yes there are outliers, like Tyron Smith).  This isn't 1983 when Steinkuhler and Rimmington weighed 250lbs.  All CFB/NFL teams have fat O-linemen.
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It seems to be more the combination of bellies and tiny arms. But it's not normal to see huge bulging bicep muscles when arms are hanging at the sides. Here's a photo of the Alabama offensive line:

ala-ol---1022jpg-0d1157e45a9ba73f_large.jpg


This is more to do with our OL being bad, and people looking for reasons why it's bad. Maybe the workouts can improve, but I think it's more to do with coaching

 
Crazyhole said:
This is ridiculous.   There's what, maybe 400 student athletes that get the benefits of our sports nutrition budget.  That's over 8 grand per year per player for food.   Props to the university for being able to foot that bill but that is just a ridiculous amount of money to spend.  
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Considering there are about 140 just on the football team - and that's not including all the support staff which I would guess are also largely fed out of the same dollar figure - I'd bet it's well above 400.

 
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