In a word: Intense

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

NE Statepaper

 

In a Word: 'Intense'

Husker players describe a summer of competition, accountability

by Samuel McKewon

 

August 08, 2009

 

So let’s say you spent your summer vacation - if you had one in this economy - eating hot dogs, watching movies, moving into a new house, getting back home to see family and splashing around in the backyard pool with your kid.

 

Well, Nebraska football players did a little of that, too.

 

But they also had hours of fierce competition in the weight room and on the field for summer workouts. And when head coach Bo Pelini said two weeks ago at Big 12 Media Days that he envisioned a tougher, more accountable football team than the one he inherited in 2008, he wasn’t kidding.

 

In a word, tight end Mike McNeill said, the summer was “intense.”

 

“The other word we used all the time was “dominate,” McNeill said. “And we did a good job of dominating our tasks this summer.”

 

The mindset flowed from Pelini’s parting words in the spring. More than that, it came from strength and conditioning coach James Dobson, whom McNeill described as “full-go all the time.”

 

“He pushed us to the max,” McNeill said. “Really hard workouts.”

 

One of them was called “GPP,” a series of quick-twitch, agility exercises. Husker players would, in total, pull prowlers, push sleds, do sit-ups and push-ups for three straight minutes and perform speed and agility drills with weighted vests.

 

“It’s a combination of intense things,” McNeill said.

 

Another is “County Fair,” a series of agility and running drills inside rings and cones, all to be completed within a certain time.

 

The Huskers had accountability for poor effort or tardiness, too. Senior safety Larry Asante said players who fell short of expectations, or were late, had to admit those mistakes in front of the whole team.

 

Then the team would decide a punishment for the player. It was the kind of player accountability, Asante and wide receiver Menelik Holt agreed, that members of NU’s national championship teams in the 1990s had talked to them about in the spring.

 

“Sometimes we’d make them stand there and watch us run,” said Asante, a member of the 2009 Unity Council. “It was kind of a mental thing, to make them sit on the side and watch us run. Because we are a team.”

 

Holt, also on the Unity Council, said Pelini stressed that each Husker “learn how to be a man.”

 

“Part of being a man is being accountable for your actions,” Holt said. “We hear that all the time. Pelini’s always teaching us about those characteristics like a father would. And I think you’ve seen our team change in our leaders and how they act. You saw the team also change. We hear that from the 95 team when those guys come in.

 

Yes, Holt said, it’s a change from the Bill Callahan era.

 

“His motto was, ‘I shouldn’t have to tell you how to be a man,’” Holt said. “He expected that of you already.”

 

But, sometimes, 18-to-22-year-olds need a “Turkish Get Up” to remind them how.

 

That’s the name of the punishment Dobson devised for any player being late to anything – a lift, a meeting, a workout. It involved a player lying on his back with a 45-pound plate, rocking to standing position, and pressing up above his head.

 

“That’s 1,” Asante said. “Then you lay all the way back down and do it again. You do that about 15 times, and your back is about ready to give out.”

 

Except the punishment is to do 100 of them. McNeill saw one player, unnamed, do 150 of them. It took him an hour to lift the equivalent of 6,750 pounds, in 45-pound increments.

 

“It happened twice, I think,” Asante said. “And it never happened again. Guys seen other guys doing it, and said “Oh no, I don’t want to be doing that.”

 

Once, McNeill said, Dobson inflicted the punishment after the offense lost a mini-competition to the defense.

 

“But he just made us do one,” McNeill said, smiling. “It was a just a trick."

[Enhance]

I love to see stuff like this. It means the guys are getting extremely physical and becoming men. Players who play tough and have their priorities straight win championships. I'm glad Pelini takes a father figure role when it is needed, because in the grand scheme of things these guys are all still very young.

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

The Pain Train is coming! WHOO WHOO! WHOO WHOO!

[husker rob]

i like reading about how some members of the championship teams were stopping by summer workouts

 

the more sweat they spill in training, the more opponents blood will spill during the season

[Husker B]

The Pain Train is coming! WHOO WHOO! WHOO WHOO!

 

you sound like a big ole choo choo train

[Alamo City Husker]

SMASH MOUTH

[HUSKER 37]

Dang..

For some reason, I wanna try me one of those Turkish get up things.

[walksalone]

the more sweat they spill in training, the more opponents blood will spill during the season

 

Amen to that, make bleed, make em scared...

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

The Pain Train is coming! WHOO WHOO! WHOO WHOO!

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Love those videos!

 

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker

[billdozer15]

The Pain Train is coming! WHOO WHOO! WHOO WHOO!

 

Is Chuck Norris the conductor?

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

The Pain Train is coming! WHOO WHOO! WHOO WHOO!

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Love those videos!

 

Terry Tate: Office Linebacker

I knew you'd get that reference. You never let me down, Okie.