@JonathanByrd, I did a quick Google-stalk and see that you played at Methodist in the USAC, a Division III alum, truly a man after my own heart. I played at Carnegie Mellon (University Athletic Association). Good but not great career: 29 starts (spot starter as frosh and sophomore, 23 straight as junior and senior), twice all-conference (2006-07), once all-region (2006). The highlight was going 11-1 and making the playoffs in my junior season. Good times. Not just the football, but the friends, the whole experience. My five best buddies and I are still in touch, schedule a vacation (or the occasional bachelor parties and weddings) to see each other pretty much every year. Great stuff.
@Mgragg: you’ve already been in the program for a year, so you likely have an idea of where you stand. One of the biggest pieces of advice I give kids starting their first season of college ball is not to get caught up in where they are on the depth chart as a freshman, nor be intimidated by how big the roster is. I was the fourth-string offensive tackle when I showed up as a freshman. I was on special teams by the end of camp, started my first game by week 9 of my freshman season, got PT scattered throughout the firs two years, and became a starter for good as a junior. That was a pretty “fast” trajectory - but there were other guys who became starters as juniors and seniors that spent their entire freshman and sophomore year on the scout team. Point is, don’t worry about where you are on the depth chart now, just put your nose to the grindstone, know your plays and calls, train hard, and be the best player you can be.
One possibly counter-intuitive piece of advice (not sure what Byrd will think of this, happy to hear his opinion): don’t be TOO intense either. It’s one thing to be a good, hard worker that leads by example, speaks up when necessary, etc. But I generally found the guys who put on the biggest “intensity” act were really tools that were just as likely to quit the team as they were become solid contributing players. If you’re really intense, that’s fine, but make sure that’s actually what you are, not an act you’re putting on because you think it looks good. I was certainly a pretty vocal player, but not in a “LET’S GO KILL THESE MOTHERFUCKERS BECAUSE I WATCHED 300 LAST NIGHT RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” way, more of a “Let’s go fellas, big play there, step it up now!” way.
Another piece of advice: if there’s ANY animosity between offensive and defensive players on your team, do your best to cut that shit off ASAP. A promising team my sophomore year was done in by way too much infighting between defensive players (sniping that the offense didn’t score enough) and offensive players. Really good teams don’t fight about that shit. If the offense is having a bad game, the defense makes it their job to win the game, and vice versa.
Oh, and I just Google-stalked you, too, and found you on the roster…6’ and 235? That leads me to another piece of advice: don’t gain weight just because you feel like you have to: only put on weight if you can do it well. I was about your size as a freshman, bulked up to 260 as a sophomore (and played worse, the extra weight really slowed me down), dropped back to 230ish as a junior and had my best season, then stayed around 240 as a senior. I’d try to put on a little weight if I were you, but a 245-pound center that can move is WAY better off than a 270-pound kid who tried too hard to gain weight and ended up too fat.
On lifting during the season: my advice here will vary a little based on how much playing time you get (no offense or dick-swinging here, just giving real advice). If you play a lot, training really hard the day after games will be difficult. Our team’s weekly schedule was laid out as such:
Saturday - Game
Sunday - Swimming/Lifting and Films
Monday - Off
Tuesday - PM Practice
Wednesday - AM Lift, PM Practice
Thursday - PM Practice
Friday - Walkthrough
I still felt like this wasn’t enough to keep me in really good shape (our “team” lifting workouts were really light, basically 5 rounds of high-rep work of some circuit that included a barbell lift or two, a dumbbell lift or two, and a machine or two), so I added the following:
Sunday - after the team’s circuit training workout, I stayed and did close-grip bench (working up to heavy triple) and some light dumbbell repetition work for the shoulders
Monday - this was our full day “off” from any team work, so I did a full leg day here, box squats or front squats followed by some cleans and deadlifts
Wednesday - after the team’s circuit workout, I stayed and did some incline bench (maybe 3x5 with a modest weight, like 60-70% of my 1RM) and repetition arm work (thick-bar curls were a favorite)
Friday - I usually did a little light cardio before the team walkthrough, like 20 minutes on an exercise bike, and then got in the sauna or hot tub afterwards
In that vein: What’s your weekly practice schedule like? Does the team do any lifting? Those answers might help frame the above advice to your specific situation.
I’ll be following, young man. Good luck to Harding this season!
