What does the inside of Josh Heupel's program actually look like?

[FïreBall]

 

[Vols4life]

I honestly think that scheme and philosophy hurt more than S&C over the past two years. I don't know if what Heupel plans will work. But I do believe that UT's OL's were big enough and strong enough not to be abused like they were these past two seasons.

There was a time when "pound the rock" really worked. Even if your opponent knew what was coming, OL's could physically dominate front 7's over the course of a game. In this era of CFB, you cannot line up and dominate every opponent. You have to have a scheme that gives your guys the advantage. If you try Fulmer ball... you are behind by 6 TD's by the time you wear out the opponent's D.

I believe when Heupel mentioned putting offensive players in a position to succeed he included OL's. Play calling and scheme can either help or hurt your OL.

Remember Kiffin had to use zone blocking to fit his OL while he was here. Great coaches fit to what they have and not try to fit a round ball into a square hole

 

[butchna]

Davis is my evil twin.

You need to check out the SEC Stories episode about Pete Maravich. Since you TweetDiarrhea’d out that after a quarter of being defended by Pat Beverley, he would’ve quit basketball. Your dumbest troll yet...and that’s a high bar!

 

[1world1love]

All I know is that UCF would have kicked our ass all over the field and stolen our lunch money any of the past three years so there is that.

 

[Kinglberry]

You know, I like listening to David on the radio when he calls in. But if you're gonna get on here and pimp your articles, you could at least make the specific ones your linking free to read, maybe then I might get hooked and want to buy a subscription to read all the other ones that are on your site.

 

[Hoot Bigson]

You know, I like listening to David on the radio when he calls in. But if you're gonna get on here and pimp your articles, you could at least make the specific ones your linking free to read, maybe then I might get hooked and want to buy a subscription to read all the other ones that are on your site.

The Athletic has great writers and content, including David's work. The problem I had with The Athletic is their customer service. It's borderline comical (in a bad way). I had to eventually cancel my sub for the simple reason I couldn't log in to my account to read the content after they switched my password for some odd reason. If you have a simple problem like this you could never talk with a real person who could help. I tried for 2 weeks and finally gave up.

 

[Ashevolle]

Hey everyone, I spent a good chunk of last week talking to a bunch of Josh Heupel's former players about how he operates his program.

Earlier this week, we wrote about what it's like off the field.

In early team meetings, he asked his players for their feedback. What was working? What wasn’t working? What needed to stay the same? What needed to change? How could game days improve?

“I thought it said a lot about him that he respected players enough that he wanted to use what worked, not just what was his idea,” said Wyatt Miller, a four-year starter at offensive tackle who moved from the right side of the line to the left side for his senior season. “He gave everybody a voice.”

The team already had traditions like taking a trip to the beach or going bowling for various team outings under Frost. But players wanted their teammates to face punishment if they didn’t show up to those events. Heupel instituted the rule at players’ request.

Today, we wrote a follow-up story on how he installs his offense and builds/operates his program on the field and in the weight room.

“As a punter, I squatted 585 pounds,” Mac Loudermilk said “We were trying to be big and fast, and you had to be strong. We were squatting houses. We were hang cleaning, power cleaning 300 pounds. We were moving some serious weight for a decent number of reps. Was our form always the best? No, but we were strong enough to get away with it.”

Once Heupel instituted his weight program, he dialed back the amount players lifted. He put an emphasis on refining technique to prevent injuries. Every lift was focused on developing explosiveness over simple, pure strength.

“Nobody was squatting six or seven plates at a time during max-out days,” Loudermilk said. “Everything was about keeping bodies and legs fresh, staying healthy and not risking those offseason injuries.”

Hope you all enjoy both pieces if you're interested in checking them out.

Thanks for the work you out in. I see some posters give you crap simply because you don't write puff pieces all day. Glad to have your perspective. Keep up the good work.

 

[ButchBettaBeGone]

 

[kcvols1]

Hey everyone, I spent a good chunk of last week talking to a bunch of Josh Heupel's former players about how he operates his program.

Earlier this week, we wrote about what it's like off the field.

In early team meetings, he asked his players for their feedback. What was working? What wasn’t working? What needed to stay the same? What needed to change? How could game days improve?

“I thought it said a lot about him that he respected players enough that he wanted to use what worked, not just what was his idea,” said Wyatt Miller, a four-year starter at offensive tackle who moved from the right side of the line to the left side for his senior season. “He gave everybody a voice.”

The team already had traditions like taking a trip to the beach or going bowling for various team outings under Frost. But players wanted their teammates to face punishment if they didn’t show up to those events. Heupel instituted the rule at players’ request.

Today, we wrote a follow-up story on how he installs his offense and builds/operates his program on the field and in the weight room.

“As a punter, I squatted 585 pounds,” Mac Loudermilk said “We were trying to be big and fast, and you had to be strong. We were squatting houses. We were hang cleaning, power cleaning 300 pounds. We were moving some serious weight for a decent number of reps. Was our form always the best? No, but we were strong enough to get away with it.”

Once Heupel instituted his weight program, he dialed back the amount players lifted. He put an emphasis on refining technique to prevent injuries. Every lift was focused on developing explosiveness over simple, pure strength.

“Nobody was squatting six or seven plates at a time during max-out days,” Loudermilk said. “Everything was about keeping bodies and legs fresh, staying healthy and not risking those offseason injuries.”

Hope you all enjoy both pieces if you're interested in checking them out.

Well written, good show.

You sold me on a subscription, dammit!

 

[VolRage]

Technique in the weight room doesn’t equal technique on the field.

It is somewhat concerning that he advocates for lower weight. I’ve always heard that high weight low rep leads to explosiveness by strengthening twitch muscles, but I’m also not an expert and that’s just from reading I’ve done in the past.

As a lifelong off and on weightlifter I can say for a fact proper technique supersedes maxing out weight any day of the weak. Improper technique causes tendon and ligament tears. Improper technique targets large muscle groups and ignores the smaller ones which causes injuries.

Explosiveness comes from using lighter weights, being in complete control of the lift the entire time, pausing at the bottom of the lift, and exploding through the lift. Afterwards using plyometrics with explosiveness through the movement.

As an example, way too many guys in the gym lift the bench press way too fast. They drop the weight down on their chest as fast as they can, bounce weights off their chest, and then press the weight up. While it appears impressive, that’s not building explosiveness and it hurts their max lift because they didn’t properly develop the muscles needed to actually press the weights within the first 3 to inches of the lift coming off the chest.

I could go on and on but, no, explosiveness is not built by always lifting heavy.

 

[jonnon111]

It reminds me of the Jocko Willink style leadership... for those who don't know, Jocko is a former U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander who has written multiple books on leadership and founded one of the world's best leadership consulting firms. He preaches "decentralized command", which basically just means developing decisive leaders below your rank and empower them to be aggressive

Extreme Ownership is a fantastic book and Jocko has an incredible podcast with some of Americas heroes. Nice connection!

 

[manndingo]

Hey everyone, I spent a good chunk of last week talking to a bunch of Josh Heupel's former players about how he operates his program.

Earlier this week, we wrote about what it's like off the field.

In early team meetings, he asked his players for their feedback. What was working? What wasn’t working? What needed to stay the same? What needed to change? How could game days improve?

“I thought it said a lot about him that he respected players enough that he wanted to use what worked, not just what was his idea,” said Wyatt Miller, a four-year starter at offensive tackle who moved from the right side of the line to the left side for his senior season. “He gave everybody a voice.”

The team already had traditions like taking a trip to the beach or going bowling for various team outings under Frost. But players wanted their teammates to face punishment if they didn’t show up to those events. Heupel instituted the rule at players’ request.

Today, we wrote a follow-up story on how he installs his offense and builds/operates his program on the field and in the weight room.

“As a punter, I squatted 585 pounds,” Mac Loudermilk said “We were trying to be big and fast, and you had to be strong. We were squatting houses. We were hang cleaning, power cleaning 300 pounds. We were moving some serious weight for a decent number of reps. Was our form always the best? No, but we were strong enough to get away with it.”

Once Heupel instituted his weight program, he dialed back the amount players lifted. He put an emphasis on refining technique to prevent injuries. Every lift was focused on developing explosiveness over simple, pure strength.

“Nobody was squatting six or seven plates at a time during max-out days,” Loudermilk said. “Everything was about keeping bodies and legs fresh, staying healthy and not risking those offseason injuries.”

Hope you all enjoy both pieces if you're interested in checking them out.

I reupped my script just to read that and it was worth it...keep up the great work.

 

[CR-vol]

You know, I like listening to David on the radio when he calls in. But if you're gonna get on here and pimp your articles, you could at least make the specific ones your linking free to read, maybe then I might get hooked and want to buy a subscription to read all the other ones that are on your site.

The subscription is cheap and has a free trial period that you can cancel. It's worth the money imo.

 

[Kinglberry]

The subscription is cheap and has a free trial period that you can cancel. It's worth the money imo.

Not disputing that at all. Just that this post was a fishing expedition to get more subscriptions. Here, or another site I used to read, used to put a dollar sign in the title so you knew it was that type of post.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

What does the inside of Josh Heupels head look like?

 

[you]

David, I ain't forgot how you acted like a douche bag last year. I ain't reading your stuff...

 

[vegasvolfan]

I'm not so certain this is great news. That works great until you play some of the teams on our schedule that have refined technique AND massive strength. While I don't necessarily prioritize strength over technique, our team has been pushed around on the field for years, even by lower-level teams. We've been dealing with the worst of all worlds - our opponents have been physically stronger, they've had better technique, and they've actually known what their assignments were for every play (who would have ever known that was important?)

agree this is one of the more concerning things I have read in conjunction with keeping Artis on staff for the reasons you have mentioned. I mean when did Huepel make those changes? Strength is so underrated by so many coaches, fans etc. I can’t help but wonder if this is directly linked to his teams’ decline. I remember watching Frost’s teams. They were impressively strong and tough. So, he inherits Frost’s team, talks about keeping what works and then changes the S&C program?

 

[vegasvolfan]

I honestly think that scheme and philosophy hurt more than S&C over the past two years. I don't know if what Heupel plans will work. But I do believe that UT's OL's were big enough and strong enough not to be abused like they were these past two seasons.

There was a time when "pound the rock" really worked. Even if your opponent knew what was coming, OL's could physically dominate front 7's over the course of a game. In this era of CFB, you cannot line up and dominate every opponent. You have to have a scheme that gives your guys the advantage. If you try Fulmer ball... you are behind by 6 TD's by the time you wear out the opponent's D.

I believe when Heupel mentioned putting offensive players in a position to succeed he included OL's. Play calling and scheme can either help or hurt your OL.

Our OL and the rest of the team would not have gassed out and been pushed all over the place if they were strong enough. The OL was fat and not as strong as they had been in prior years.

 

[SpookyAction]

What does the inside of Josh Heupels head look like?

I suspect some gray matter in this guy's head. We haven't had a strategic coach since Kiffin. Sounds promising.

And about the weights, I used to lift, and hope to again after elbow surgery coming up. The biggest part of explosiveness is, you get better push when you push fast and first. Our Oline has been getting hit for years, not hitting first. It is why we would be dominated by inferior linemen. I am optimsitic about Heupel's approach. I think circumstance favored us in this coaching search, even though it did not feel like to me, at first glance.

 

[JelloPuddinPup]

As a lifelong off and on weightlifter I can say for a fact proper technique supersedes maxing out weight any day of the weak. Improper technique causes tendon and ligament tears. Improper technique targets large muscle groups and ignores the smaller ones which causes injuries.

Explosiveness comes from using lighter weights, being in complete control of the lift the entire time, pausing at the bottom of the lift, and exploding through the lift. Afterwards using plyometrics with explosiveness through the movement.

As an example, way too many guys in the gym lift the bench press way too fast. They drop the weight down on their chest as fast as they can, bounce weights off their chest, and then press the weight up. While it appears impressive, that’s not building explosiveness and it hurts their max lift because they didn’t properly develop the muscles needed to actually press the weights within the first 3 to inches of the lift coming off the chest.

I could go on and on but, no, explosiveness is not built by always lifting heavy.

Was coming here to say this. Great explanation. Had an old coach that was in his 60s and jacked always state, High weight / low reps = size and strength, low weight / mid-high reps with proper technique-purpose = explosiveness.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Was coming here to say this. Great explanation. Had an old coach that was in his 60s and jacked always state, High weight / low reps = size and strength, low weight / mid-high reps with proper technique-purpose = explosiveness.

Just talk to one of Stucky’s assistants and do what they do/did. No one at Tennessee has produced the strength and agility that Stucky‘s players had.

 

[sjt18]

Our OL and the rest of the team would not have gassed out and been pushed all over the place if they were strong enough. The OL was fat and not as strong as they had been in prior years.

You seem to disagree with people who were close to the team and who reported on it have said. I have no direct knowledge... just what I glean from various sources.

 

[GoVols64]

As a lifelong off and on weightlifter I can say for a fact proper technique supersedes maxing out weight any day of the weak. Improper technique causes tendon and ligament tears. Improper technique targets large muscle groups and ignores the smaller ones which causes injuries.

Explosiveness comes from using lighter weights, being in complete control of the lift the entire time, pausing at the bottom of the lift, and exploding through the lift. Afterwards using plyometrics with explosiveness through the movement.

As an example, way too many guys in the gym lift the bench press way too fast. They drop the weight down on their chest as fast as they can, bounce weights off their chest, and then press the weight up. While it appears impressive, that’s not building explosiveness and it hurts their max lift because they didn’t properly develop the muscles needed to actually press the weights within the first 3 to inches of the lift coming off the chest.

I could go on and on but, no, explosiveness is not built by always lifting heavy.

I wish I could like this more than once. There is a great video on Youtube where Clemson's S&C coach talks about how much time and effort they spend w/Freshman on clean technique. The risk of injury in lifts like the clean (and to a lesser extent the Power Clean) and deadlift when done improperly and at maximal loads isn't worth the benefit. At some point you are strong enough and your skill at the position (defined as technique, athleticism and situational awareness) makes the most difference.

There is also a lot of variation by position. What your lineman, LBs/RBs, skill players are doing in the weight room should share core concepts but be very different in end goals.

I hate to say it but I really feel like explosiveness is more of a natural gift than something you build; you either have it or you don't. Take the standing high jump for example. You may add a bit to your max height through technique and training but you were likely putting up impressive numbers (or not) to start with. The improvement is incremental.

Bottom line is you want to maximize the athletes potential as safely as possible. Raw strength isn't the end all be all if you are "strong enough."

Edit: Just don't be a moron like Jones and have your guys race through workouts. #1 enemy of technique is inadequate recovery between sets.

 

[vegasvolfan]

You seem to disagree with people who were close to the team and who reported on it have said. I have no direct knowledge... just what I glean from various sources.

I go by what I saw on the field. Yes I 100% disagree. Albeit, I could be 100% wrong

 

[LeBleu]

I feel like this thread went from David giving us a free peak, to being a few posts away from a Larry Wheels video.