Eric Klein Building Muscles, But Also A New Mindset For UConn Football Players (M. Anthony)

[huskymedic]

Eric Klein Building Muscles, But Also A New Mindset For UConn Football Players

>>"I pride myself on player development, being able to take that kid out of high school, 17 or 18, and for lack of a better term, slow-cooking him and getting him better every year, so when he does achieve his junior/senior status we are reaching his true athletic potential and burgeoning his career to where they've got a chance at the NFL, or they're going to live a lifetime of healthy living," said Klein, who spent the past six years in the same position at Minnesota, where he worked with UConn athletic director David Benedict and Beth Goetz, the Huskies' chief operating officer. "[A typical approach is] we're going to lift like power lifters, sprint like sprinters and have the conditioning of a cross country team. That's kind of what everybody wants, but how do you get everything to mesh together that way? It's a little different in football. You can do X in the weight room and a guy can get stronger, but it doesn't necessarily make him a better football player."<<

>>"As I evaluated things when I came in and as we went through spring practice, I saw some things I knew we'd have to get a lot better at and one of those areas was strength and conditioning," Edsall said. "And then when we tested guys at the end of spring ball [in various lifts and workouts], what I thought I ended up getting in the results. I found out we've got a lot of work to do to get to the levels we need to be at from a strength standpoint, speed standpoint and explosion standpoint."<<

 

[hardcorehusky]

What the heck was the Former Head coach Village Idiot selling us on with their strength and conditioning program? All we heard was how vitamins, nuts and a patterned diet will turn these guys around. He even in one press conference (and the Alumni event) started talking about how much weight and body fat these guys lost individually. How great their strength and conditioning was and now we see it needs a total rebuild? I implicitly trust Randy and Eric Klein to do this right. But man, was there anything that idiot of a former coach did right? Man, I even hat those bucket hats because of him.

 

[Palatine]

Every time we get a new S&C coach, he the greatest thing since sliced bread. And they all come in and talk about how we need to get stronger.

I wish Mr. Klein every success. But my opinion of him will be based on the play of the offensive and defensive line. If they move people, he's my hero.

 

[uconnell]

What the heck was the Former Head coach Village Idiot selling us on with their strength and conditioning program? All we heard was how vitamins, nuts and a patterned diet will turn these guys around. He even in one press conference (and the Alumni event) started talking about how much weight and body fat these guys lost individually. How great their strength and conditioning was and now we see it needs a total rebuild? I implicitly trust Randy and Eric Klein to do this right. But man, was there anything that fn idiot of a former coach did right? Man, I even hat those fn bucket hats because of him.

I bought one and love it. Have to over dress because of meds I'm on.

 

[BlueDogs]

What the heck was the Former Head coach Village Idiot selling us on with their strength and conditioning program? All we heard was how vitamins, nuts and a patterned diet will turn these guys around. He even in one press conference (and the Alumni event) started talking about how much weight and body fat these guys lost individually. How great their strength and conditioning was and now we see it needs a total rebuild? I implicitly trust Randy and Eric Klein to do this right. But man, was there anything that fn idiot of a former coach did right? Man, I even hat those fn bucket hats because of him.

Vitamin D doesn't build muscle mass and strength? Go figure.

 

[uconndogs]

Edsall's teams were well conditioned and he found and developed some freak athletes (see Tyvon Branch, Reggie, etc.). They were also physical teams for the most part. Under the stupid twins and Crazy Bob we lost that. Hopefully Randy brings it back.

 

[freescooter]

When a coach says we need speed strength and explosiveness on top of his comments about needing better players it sort of leads me to think that Diaco didn't recruit that well. Mostly marginal D1 players. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Palatine]

Diaco recruited size over everything else. His teams were slow. Huge mistake.

 

[Jimdish255]

Diaco recruited size over everything else. His teams were slow. Huge mistake.

Also the most aggressive aspect of Coach D's philosophy was his own running up and down the sidelines. The rest was conservative and reactive. Coach slow and the players become slow.

 

[Excalibur]

Diaco recruited size over everything else. His teams were slow. Huge mistake.

Our past two head coaches were both guilty of this. It's not how you recruit to programs like ours. Start with speed and add muscle -- the other way around doesn't work.

 

[weyuo]

P & D ran into the same wall Edsall ran into and in my opinion was the main reason he bolted to Maryland, recruiting talent to compete against whatever P-5 opponents you could schedule. I think Edsall saw the writing on the Big East's crumbling wall and Maryland probably whispered B1G in his ear. Once the American was formed it made recruiting even more difficult for any coach coming in and the jury will be out til about next signing day as to how Edsall fares in the recruiting wars as compared to the last couple of coaches.

 

[SubbaBub]

Non-elite teams can't recruit all their players to have size and speed. Size usually comes undeveloped and speed comes undersized. RE 1.0 took big guys and small fast guys and made them strong. The last two coaches took too many maxed out sub par guys, then asked them to do crazy things.

 

[huskymedic]

P>D. From the UConn NFL thread:

Worth a click:

>>By my count, 11 players on UConn's 2014 team - a roster that former coach Bob Diaco managed to squeeze one whole win against a Football Bowl Subdivision team - have taken part or will take part in NFL training camps (not including tryouts at rookie camps).

S Andrew Adams: Started 13 games and had 46 tackles as a rookie with New York Giants
DT Kenton Adeyemi: Signed as free agent in 2016 by Chicago and then Cleveland
WR Geremy Davis: Former sixth-round pick by New York Giants had two catches in 10 games in 2016, now on Los Angeles Chargers' roster
WR Deshon Foxx: Current on New York Jets roster, previously with Seattle
CB John Green: Signed as free agent by Tennessee Titans
DB Byron Jones: Starting safety for Dallas Cowboys who had 88 tackles in second NFL season
OT Andreas Knappe: Currently on Atlanta's 90-man roster
OT Richard Levy: Currently on San Francisco's 90-man roster
DL B.J. McBryde: Spent team either on the roster or practice squad with Philadelphia, Green Bay and San Franisco
S Obi Melifonwu: Second-round pick of Oakland Raiders
WR Noel Thomas: Signed as a free agent by Detroit

Also, defensive lineman Mikal Myers (Baltimore), kicker Bobby Puyol (Baltimore) and cornerback Jhavon Williams (New Orleans) got looks in rookie camp as did Reuben Frank with Detroit in 2015 while a talented group of seniors, who were freshmen on the 2014 team, figure to add to that list in 2018.<<

 

[HobokenHusky]

I am sick of this strength coach savior BS, this is like a broken record "oh the last guy was terrible all the players are slow weak and fat". In my mind this guy is considered a jabroni until we have Magnus Ver Magnusson clones on the OL and 4.4's across the skills positions

 

[Sprague03]

I am sick of this strength coach savior BS, this is like a broken record "oh the last guy was terrible all the players are slow weak and fat". In my mind this guy is considered a jabroni until we have Magnus Ver Magnusson clones on the OL and 4.4's across the skills positions

I agree. Balis knew what he was doing, he was at Miss St before UConn and is now at Notre Dame. I'm not buying that our S&C program needs work, our coaching was always the key ingredient to success. However, this guy's had success at Minnesota so I don't expect to see a huge drop-off.

 

[Excalibur]

I am sick of this strength coach savior BS, this is like a broken record "oh the last guy was terrible all the players are slow weak and fat". In my mind this guy is considered a jabroni until we have Magnus Ver Magnusson clones on the OL and 4.4's across the skills positions

I don't see any discussion of Balis along those lines here . . . the criticism is of Diaco and his recruiting strategy.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't see any discussion of Balis along those lines here...

HCRE just said, "As I evaluated things when I came in and as we went through spring practice, I saw some things I knew we'd have to get a lot better at and one of those areas was strength and conditioning." That's not throwing shade at the previous S&C guy?

 

[Excalibur]

HCRE just said, "As I evaluated things when I came in and as we went through spring practice, I saw some things I knew we'd have to get a lot better at and one of those areas was strength and conditioning." That's not throwing shade at the previous S&C guy?

That's coach-speak. I'm talking about among the posters here . . .

 

[DoctorWho85]

Hopefully, he does a better job than the last guy. I'd love to see a fundraiser where you donate to get to work out with guy for a day.

 

[uconnell]

You can't use a S&C coach who trains gymnasts and ballet dancers to condition football players. Different set of strength and muscles plus no weight gain.