Orr..no agenda as i have no horse in the race..but i have seen enough S and C programs at top 50 programs to have some perspective on where CU is in this facet of the game..I applaud the fact that the new CU facility will have an upgraded weight room and nutritional areas, but as i mentioned..this aspect of the game is a moving target..a fast moving target at that.
Besides upgrading the pay for coordinators and assistants, next on the list of importance is the S and C program. The amount of $$ spent on S and C facilities, staff and nutrition is mind boggling
http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/022713aaf.html...another way to frame things is to look into what top nfl players do in the off season..a mcchesney type of program..hell, the best high school kids are doing that type of program starting in 9th grade..especially the OL and DL guys. I agree with the comments that the hawk-embree recruits didnt buy into what forman was selling...but, the fact that Mac has invited mcchesney into the program to specialize on this aspect of training [OL and DL guys] tells me that Mac realizes that Forman's course of action wasnt getting it done for the big guys in the program--imagine samson at 6'4" and a solid 275 lbs flying around at DE as opposed to the 225-240lb variety that CU has now..Gillam at 225 lbs in the middle doesnt work...he is a hell of a linebacker..but he needs some meat on dem bones..granted he had a tough season between concussions and illness..but at 6'3" and 240lbs..he would project as a nfl'er...these kids arent stupid..they know whats up also...Blacken wasnt perfect, in fact he and jake [now head guy at villanova] and steve [ who is now working with the girls soccer team and has a brother who is an nfl S and C guy] appealed to the guys in the program who were further along in the S and C aspect of things.
To summarize, I applaud Mac's ability to recognize that the OL and DL guys need to get stronger without losing agility and quickness..that is where the functional aspect of the program is key--I just think it is tough to digest that the last couple of seasons were a learn as we go type of deal for the S and C staff as far as the OL and DL guys are concerned...would love to see DBs weighing 180-190 and flash speed and quickness...CU wont become 'bama...but with the proper off season program, the Buffs can creep back into the 25-60 ranking consistently--
Something you seem to be ignoring is youth. Other than at DT, and where Juda was needed to play there instead of Samson because of personal issues from Samson, we were extremely young. Our entire DE depth chart was underclassmen; McCartney (GS/RS-Fr.), Gilbert (So.), Shaver (Fr. - not playing DE next year primarily), Frazier (RS-Fr.), Coleman (RS-Fr.), Wilson (RS-So.). That right there is the biggest issue with the weight program. The LB depth chart is the same, and Gillam getting sick before the season really hurt him because he lost a ton of weight and couldn't put it back on due to the timing of his sickness.
This program has been void of upperclassmen almost every year because of attrition, so that does not allow players to get in the program for years and instead we are playing a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds who haven't matured a ton and haven't had 3-4 years of college S&C versus grown ass men, a good amount of whom are going to get a shot in the NFL, which is a 180 from high school. Forman's program is completely open to getting bigger and stronger, but he isn't going to let a kid just jump right in without having the correct basics of lifting. Doing that reduces injury from lifting that tends to transfer over to losing players to injury during the season, which was something that Blacken struggled with
heavily. The guys who have been in the program the entire time; like Crawley, Tupou, Solis, etc. have gotten bigger and more powerful. It's a tall task to expect non-BC recruits to come in physically ready to play at the D1 level. Having to play a bunch of young guys, who aren't physically ready also poses other developmental issues. Instead of redshirting and putting on muscle and overall developing, they are being forced to play and you simply can't dedicate the season to bulk when you are playing every week trying to recover from injuries and keep your body going through the long grind that is the season. Don't take this as me saying that I am opposed to young bucks playing, but we shouldn't have a depth chart full of young bucks playing, yet.
2015 is the season where Forman earns his paycheck. We were a very sophomore/freshman skewed last year, those guys are almost entirely back and will be entering their 3rd full year and this is when we should see the jump in size, strength, power, and speed. You can also bring the culture into this, we will also find out if what MacIntyre and Co. have been preaching to the team over the last 3 years is working or not. We've brought in JUCO's to provide hopefully quality depth and with that comes competition so we should also see more gains from the players because of the competition aspect and playing time.
Returning Players on the DL with PT
- McCartney - 6'3" 240
- Gilbert - 6'4" 230
- Frazier - 6'1" 240
- Coleman - 6'2" 250
- Wilson - 6'3" 250
- Tupuo - 6'3" 325
- Solis - 6'1" 305
- Kofavalu - 6'5" 245 (not sure how accurate this one is)
- Lopez - 6'4" 300
Incoming DL JUCO's
- Carrell - 6'3" 275
- Robbins - 6'5" 260
We have some freshman coming in such as Fehoko, but this is finally a year where he won't have to play if he isn't ready (assuming relatively low injuries at the position) and that we will have some older players providing depth.
