CHICAGO - In the overall grand scheme of Scott Frost’s rebuilding project of Nebraska football, arguably no element has been more important than completely revamping the strength and conditioning program.
Led by new strength coach Zach Duval, the top priority since Frost and Co. arrived in Lincoln in December has been getting the team back to its Husker Power roots.
Based on the results already over the first six months, that mission is well underway.
“When I got back to Nebraska, (the players) hadn’t really squatted in three years, weren’t lifting very much,” Frost said. “Our guys were out of shape. I didn’t see the passion or the unity… I just know they didn’t lift like I wanted them to lift…
“I want them to listen to everything Zach Duval says. He changed our team (at Central Florida). I think he’s the best in the business. I’ve already seen changes on our team at Nebraska. He’s basically taken the old approach and what he learned in his Husker Power days and modernized it…
“I trust Zach. I don’t try to interfere or micromanage that. I know what he’s going to do for our football team, and that’s an area that needed fast improvement.”
It didn’t take long at all for the players to fully buy into Duval’s program, either.
Senior defensive lineman Mick Stoltenberg said the new strength program is much more specific and individually detailed to each player than in years past.
Duval calls his lifting philosophy “progressive overload’, meaning the players start out with lighter weight and each day try to add a little bit more on every lift. Rather than do one-rep maximum weights all the time, the goal is to get gradually stronger in small, gradual increments.
In just a few months, many Huskers are putting up more weight than they ever could have imagined. Maybe more importantly, the entire team has embraced a competitive mentality in the weight room, which Stoltenberg said was not the case in recent years.
“The coolest thing about the weight room now is how competitive everyone is,” Stoltenberg said. “If one of the d-linemen is doing a certain amount of weight, then everyone else is going to try it. If they fail, they fail, but I think everyone wants to at least give it a shot.”
Asked which teammate he’s seen make some of the biggest gains this offseason, Stoltenberg immediately pointed to sophomore defensive end Ben Stille.
After weighing in at 255 pounds at the start of winter workouts, Stille has beefed up to a whopping 290 this summer and has earned the nickname as Stoltenberg’s “little brother” from his teammates.
Stille is just one of numerous Huskers who have packed on significant bulk this offseason. According to the weights listed in the 2018 NU media guide, defensive lineman Carlos Davis is up 30 pounds from last season at 325.
Fellow d-lineman Damion Daniels is up to 340 pounds from 310 last year, and left tackle Brenden Jaimes is listed at 300, a 20-pound gain from his listed weight as a true freshman.
Senior offensive lineman Jerald Foster, who is now up to 335 pounds from 310, has seen plenty of progress in the team's overall strength as well. He’s now bumped his squat max up to 700 pounds, but said that’s not even close to the top lifters on the team.
Foster said offensive linemen Tanner Farmer and John Raridon and defensive linemen Freedom Akinmoladun and Carlos and Khalil Davis have all recorded three-rep squat maximums of 765 pounds.
“I’m at 700, but it's not the same,” Foster said. “I wish I was up there. These boys are eating. That's that big boy weight. Eight plates across the dinner table. I hate looking at it because the bar makes a nice little bend. It looks like rainbows on their shoulders. I'm not doing it.”
The gains made thus far are certainly encouraging, but Frost said it’s only the start of a longterm process intended to make these new personal bests the team’s standard going forward.
“We’re starting to get there,” Frost said. “You see the changes in some of these guys in two cycles; it’s a big deal. They’ve really changed their bodies and look great.”
