Bump Biddy Bump Ba Dump Bump Bump.
So, I'm clicking through some strength & training videos on the U-Toobs, looking for Auburn stuff. I mistakenly click on an Ole Miss 2015 training video and the very first thing on the clip...is a guy squatting heavy weight. I eventually saw a clip of Ryan Russell explaining his philosophy heading into the 2014 season. The interviewer asked him about what incoming freshman should expect. And what I heard was....BINGO...exactly what I been talking about.
He said a new guy will NOT bench at all. He needs to get used to going fast and doing exercises that put him through the full range of motion. Look, this is not a fire Gus take. This is coming from someone who now despises rumors and conjecture. I hope Gus and all the coaches turn it around and kick ass. But how many times have you heard the shit about how defenses will catch up to his gimmicky, high school offense? It has nothing to do with that. They've caught up to guys in the trenches that don't live on the squat rack. That aren't bench pressing busses. We're weak as hell in the front 7 on D and we blow no one off the ball on O. Why...?
Wait...let me ask some guys who have some knowledge of what the inside of a weight room looks like. Buzz...simp...Jumbo...Prowlie...anyone else......do you get massive leg strength by going fast in the weight room? Set to set to set? Do you get the ability to raise up and push back a 315 pound man in front of you by doing plyometrics and yoga? You know damn well you don't.
Go back and read anything on our strength and training program from the day Gus got here. It's all about fast, fast, fast. Set to set to set. This is NOT acceptable for the guys in the trenches. No way, shape, form or fashion. You can get extra conditioning to go "fast" in the game. But if you can't take a bar full of weight and explode through it....you will get beat over and over and over. Because the 315 pound guy in front of you can squat 600 for reps, while you can squat down on one leg and hold a 50 pound dumbbell over your head for 20 seconds....and then quickly move to another set.
That's Malzahn's philosophy. We can bitch about Jeremy and play calling and not being in the right sets and God knows what. We're weak in the trenches. Always will be. Nothing will get totally fixed until that changes. We may become more competitive. We will NEVER compete for the West until this philosophy changes.