University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Football Summer Workouts Point to Fall Results
June 24, 2002 | Football
June 24, 2002
Each summer day, Tennessee's Percy Strength Facility can be found booming with music as the clang of iron fills the air repetitively. Football players come and go every hour or so, strolling through the doorway of the weight room. Sweat drips. Muscles bulge. Men are made.
Johnny Long can't help but have a smile on his face - a smile of confidence. He knows the Vols will be ready when the season begins Aug. 31 with a non-conference showdown with Wyoming in Nashville. They'll be in the best shape of their lives. And it's all in a summer's work.
Long is the associate strength and conditioning coach for the Tennessee Volunteers. And he's in charge of the football team's 12-week summer workout program, which is currently in full stride under the humid Knoxville skies.
The program consists of weight training as well as indoor and outdoor conditioning drills. Athletes can choose from a handful of different times to work out at the Percy Strength Facility located inside the Neyland-Thompson Sports Complex. The 12,000-square-foot workout facility has over 140 training stations with top-notch equipment from 20 different fitness companies. And, the facility ranks as one of the top three in the nation, in terms of size.
After pumping iron for over an hour, athletes then head outdoors for running and conditioning exercises directed by Long and his staff at Hudson Field. Thanks to the weight training and conditioning program, Long doesn't worry about unconditioned players when a game is on the line and players must perform in crunch time.
"One thing I do is take pride in our conditioning levels," Long said. "I think if you are as in shape as you can be and you bring it out on the football field, obviously you are going to win games in the fourth quarter."
Being physically fit at the end of a football game in the fall comes from conditioning and training during the summer. That's exactly what the summer workout program is all about - preparing athletes for the demanding weeks of Southeastern Conference football.
| "It is voluntary, but I think we've got something like 95 percent of the guys doing it." |
| Jason Witten |
Participation in the workout program is strictly voluntary. However, strength training and conditioning in the summer is a must if an athlete expects to be physically fit once the season starts.
"For every player that wants to come in here and play, it's just one of those things you have to do," said junior tight end Jason Witten. "It is voluntary, but I think we've got something like 95 percent of the guys doing it.
"When I came in, people like Cedrick Wilson and those guys were telling me they need me to step up and get in the weight room. I never really thought that's how it would work with the weight room. I thought it would be everybody in there for himself. But I think it brings a bond among all the guys out there busting their butts together. That all pays off in the long run."
Senior offensive guard Anthony Herrera, who registers 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, agrees that the summer workouts are essential.
"I consider the SEC the best conference in the country," he said. "So if you don't lift weights or you don't condition, there's no way you'll be able to keep up with other teams on the field, especially when it comes to the third and fourth quarter and you need to dominate."
Last season was a great example of how the Vols put their summer conditioning to work. Tennessee outscored its opponents by a combined total of 223-136 in the third and fourth quarters last season. On three occasions the Vols held their opponent scoreless in the fourth quarter, proving they were capable of going nose-to-nose right down to the wire.
The summer workout program is also one of the key ingredients in keeping athletes in top shape throughout the off-season. Different athletes use it in different ways. Some can use the summer as a springboard for the upcoming season. Others, however, use the workouts to build on a foundation they started in spring practice.
This year junior fullback Troy Fleming says he's using summer workouts as a tool to be one of the strongest men in the backfield. Prior to this season, he says he would use the summer workouts as a way of regaining the strength he lost during the down time between spring practice and summer workouts. However, this spring he hit the weights harder than ever to raise his performance to another level.
"This spring I had the mindset of working out as hard during spring ball as I did in the winter and in the off-season," Fleming said. "It's helped me to maintain my strength. So this summer, instead of working to get that strength back, I can take a step forward and get stronger."
As the team works to get bigger, stronger and faster, the side effect is that athletes emerge to take leadership roles during the workout program. A school-record 10 Vols were taken in this year's NFL Draft, leaving huge leadership voids to fill. Gone are defensive standouts John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth and Will Overstreet. Offensive leaders such as Donte Stallworth, Fred Weary and Will Bartholomew no longer wear the orange. And who can forget the determination of Travis Stephens?
Since the exit of so many role players from last season's team, the Vols are left looking for new leadership in key positions. That's where the summer workout program comes into play.
"We're a young team that has to grow both leadership-wise and team-wise," Long said. "It's a little different when you lose all the players that we did to the pros. We are trying to accomplish a leadership role, a work ethic and the team concept this summer. It's been a challenge, but we are making great strides.
"Usually in weeks six and seven when the guys start doing their conditioning together, it's when you start seeing a team gel. As we get six weeks out before practice starts, you'll see the team concept come together in conditioning. They'll start pushing each other and challenging one another, which builds the leadership roles."
Long says some new leaders that seem to be emerging have been senior offensive tackle Will Ofenheusle and junior center Scott Wells. On the defensive side, junior linebacker Kevin Burnett has also stepped forward and assumed a leadership role, as well as senior defensive tackle Demetrin Veal.
As leaders emerge, chemistry builds and muscle is added by the masses, it's obvious that Tennessee football is just around the corner. Vol fans are just beginning to feel that summer itch for Saturdays at Neyland Stadium and another quest for a national championship. But for the men in orange, the groundwork has already begun.
Josh Pate
