Great thread so far… I feel as most of you do that cleans are generally very beneficial. I come from playing HS and college ball, both a decent levels. From what I have seen, good athletes and good hitters will be good almost no matter what they do. For the more mediocre guys to stand out, I do believe cleans will help them. Just as long as the basic power lifts are adequate before hand.
Here is something more sport specific to think about. When a linemen or line-backer fire off and hit someone, what do the coaches tell you to do? It should be head up, chest out, and “roll” the hips up into the target. What does a clean teach an athlete? Two out of those three - head up (power C in the back) and rolling the hips - IF taught correctly. All too often, kids are taught to pull the lift (clean) with the upper body, instead of the legs and hips. And, they tend to recieve the bar way too high and it’s executed too slowly, like a bench or squat. You don’t want to do a full Olympic clean, but you want to recieve the bar in at least a half squat - same position you play ball. And you want to execute the clean at maximum effort/speed, no matter the weight or reps being attempted.
Even more specific though, is that football is not a maximum strength sport - it’s a strength-endurance sport (compared to throwing or sprinting). Therefore, I believe an athlete can over-emphasize the Olympic lifts, because they are designed for maximum power. Where the squat, deadlift, bench, etc, are designed more strength-endurance (when specifically training for football). For instance, it’s no use to be able to do 10 cleans in a row, becuase the clean is not designed to be a strength-endurance lift - usually after 3 reps, the lift will slow. The remaining 7 reps will be sub-par both in technique (injuries) and execution (below maximum effort and speed). Both effort and speed must be at near 100% to substancially increase the effectivness of the clean movmement. I was on a final-four football team, in which they coached us to do sets of 10 cleans! Point being, if we hadn’t done them, I’m sure we would have been just as good! Why - again, because the clean is meant for very heavy weight, very few reps per set, to substancially increase one’s power.
In other words, I hope those of you who are cleaning are not treating the movement like a power lift, like benching or quatting. For football, power lifts are most effective in the 3-10 rep range, typically. For the Olympic lifts (clean, snatch, or clean and jerk) are properly performed ONLY in the 1-3 rep range, 85-100% of your 1RM. If you want to gain power-endurance in the clean, add more sets. Again, any more reps per set than 3, and the lift is mostly void. When working below optimum technique (after 3 reps or so), the ability to get more powerful will decrease, and you will be teaching your body to move slower = not good.