Slauson and Nicks are HUGE studs....Bowman on track

[huskerhaze]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=2399513

 

NU Football: Huskers brace for summer conditioning

BY RICH KAIPUST

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

 

LINCOLN - Dave Kennedy is not a huge man.

 

Linemen, including NU's Matt Slauson, left, and Carl Nicks watch their diets and go through rigorous summer workouts.

Carl Nicks and Matt Slauson, on the other hand, are big enough to block out the sun.

 

But the mere sight of Kennedy on the prowl is enough to send the two behemoths hoofing it in the opposite direction.

 

On Wednesday, Kennedy spotted the two Husker offensive linemen in the Nebraska weight room. Slauson got away, but the NU strength and conditioning coach was able to bag Nicks and lead him to a scale. It tipped at around 350 pounds.

 

"He ain't getting me on there," Slauson said, looking over his shoulder to be sure Kennedy wasn't in hot pursuit.

 

A short time later, Nicks caught up to Slauson with a pained look on his face. The Nebraska staff wants Nicks closer to 320 or 325. A consolatory Slauson made Nicks feel a little better by relating that he's 330 and probably needs to see 315 before long.

 

There's an off season?• An off-season day in the life of a Husker football player:

 

• Many Husker players don't get too far from the football program, even in the summer.

 

• With the NU training table closed until August, linemen follow diets made up for them by a nutritionist, and they are to write down everything they eat. Their eating journals are tracked by a Husker nutritionist.

 

• A typical day during summer conditioning for NU offensive lineman Matt Slauson has him rising at about 5:30 a.m. and participating in "technique" work by 6:30 a.m. By 7 a.m., he joins others in stretching before conditioning drills. After running, for most it's either off to the weight room or to class.

Even at their target weights, now is not the best time to be a big Husker - and Nicks and Slauson are two of the biggest.

 

Two-mile runs are coming. So are the 200-yard sprints. Plus, the heat and humidity of late June and July are imminent.

 

To be sure, NU's football summer conditioning program won't be fun for anyone when it starts Monday. But it will be even less so for the dozen or so Huskers lugging more than 300 pounds through running drills four days a week.

 

It's enough to make Slauson wish he were a wide receiver.

 

"They can run and run and run," Slauson said. "I'm sitting here struggling to make my two-mile run and they're breezing through it."

 

The summer conditioning schedule for the first week is planted in Nicks' brain. It has been for several weeks now.

 

"I've been dreading Monday," Nicks said. "But you've got to do it. Me and Matt, we'll survive. We try our hardest, but we're going to be struggling for a couple of weeks."

 

Nicks and Slauson have as much at stake as anybody this summer.

 

It's no stretch to consider Nicks, a senior at left tackle, and Slauson, a junior at right guard, as potential All-Big 12 players. They anchor an NU offensive line that has shown steady improvement the past two seasons.

 

Making further strides in 2007 starts with reshaping their bodies under the summer sun and becoming leaders at a time when it would be easier to follow.

 

"It's a good time to eat right and just make your body how you want it for the next season," Nicks said. "You can go lift and run on your own, but you're not going to be motivated like if you're going out with the team."

 

As a late-arriving junior college transfer last year, Nicks caught only the finish of summer conditioning. Even though he was warned, Nicks was surprised by the workload.

 

Hardest for the bigger players are the two-mile runs the first week, which linemen must complete in 20 minutes. Mandatory times are lower depending on the position.

 

"If you can get through that week, you're going to be all right," Slauson said. "You've had some down time and you're coming back and you just get thrown into it full-bore with a two-mile run. Coach K believes in shock treatment. In everything we do, there's no easing into anything."

 

The workouts are no picnic for smaller players, either.

 

"I used to think that maybe the lighter you were, the easier it was," Nicks said. "But when I see guys like Terrence Nunn (6-0, 190) and Cortney Grixby (5-9, 170) with their hands on their knees just like me, I know it's hard. They've got to do it just like I do and the thing about them is they have faster times (to meet)."

 

Through it all, Slauson said it helps to have a sense a humor, especially as the heat rises on the FieldTurf. But it is serious business, both with the physical stress it puts on players and its significance in preparing a team for the season.

 

And it's not as though Nicks and Slauson are in terrible shape. Slauson was taking 11/2- and two-mile treks around the Ed Weir track last week. Nicks eats chicken breasts and salads and tries to avoid fast food to help his cause.

 

Because the NU training table isn't available until August, Slauson said, the linemen have diets made out for them, and they document everything they eat in a journal that goes back to the Husker nutritionist for approval.

 

"I actually got a lot more serious about my diet during summertime," Slauson said, "just because you're doing so much conditioning, you're burning so many calories and that's a really good time for me to trim down and lose a lot of fat that you might put on throughout the season. In my case, a lot of times being hurt comes with being a little heavy."

 

Slauson said the typical summer day requires waking at 5:30 a.m., going through some technique work at 6:30, followed at 7 a.m. by stretching and conditioning. Some players then go straight to the weight room, while others head for class. Nicks' schedule includes working noon to 5 p.m. for a Lincoln lumber company.

 

Players have the option of running in the morning or afternoon, but Nicks said his preference is to go early and beat the heat. To hear Slauson tell it, a Husker workout may at times resemble a convention for weather forecasters.

 

"That's all we're talking about," Slauson said. "If we have to run in the afternoon, we'll be sitting there and talking about how it's supposed to be 85 or 90 degrees with 70 percent humidity. We'll be like, 'Man, this is going to be a bad day.'"

 

But the high-difficulty factor of summer conditioning is a calculated step in the process, Nicks said.

 

"I think they make it that way on purpose," he said. "If you can do the summer conditioning then two-a-days are a breeze."

 

Callahan: Bowman rehab on schedule

 

LINCOLN - Nebraska cornerback Zack Bowman won't be going through summer conditioning, but coach Bill Callahan said Bowman is progressing well in his recovery from a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee.

 

"He's rehabbing and working extremely hard," Callahan said. "We're pleased with where he's at. Every day he's getting better."

 

Bowman injured the knee March 28 in spring practice, about seven months after tearing the ACL in his left knee. After surgery, his recovery time was projected at five to six months.

 

"I'd guess we're looking maybe at the end of September or the beginning of October," Callahan said. "It's hard to say much more than that."

 

Offensive guards Andy Christensen (shoulder) and Mike Huff (Achilles), starters for most of last season, also are in varying stages of rehab.

 

"With those three there have been no setbacks," Callahan said. "When I can say that, that's a good thing."

[HSKRNOKC]

I hope Bowman doesnt push it to much and re injure .

[husker rob]

that would definately suck.

 

I know that Zach wants to get on the field, I hope that he takes his time

[ttheKid1*18]

Good to see that Zach is on his way back. It would be great to have him back early in the season, but I don't want him to re-injure it because he came back too fast. Hopefully he plays sometime this season.

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

Good to hear Bowman's making progress.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

He needs to be really careful with that thing because the potential for re-injury is insane!!!!