Hog Calls

Offseason work must show up on field

Arkansas Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Ben Herbert works with the Razorbacks during practice Saturday March 30, 2013 in Fayetteville.
Arkansas Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Ben Herbert works with the Razorbacks during practice Saturday March 30, 2013 in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Like about every other college football team approaching preseason practice, the Arkansas Razorbacks recently posted video of some of their strongest players lifting maximum weights.

Arkansas strength coach Ben Herbert supervised it all and is impressed -- to a point.

Squatting massive weight doesn't mean squat, and dead-lifting a dinosaur is an extinct issue for a football player whose strengths don't translate from the weight room to the field. Sprinter's speed that takes a player to the wrong place faster also is no asset.

"I have seen guys that squat big weight that are great players, and I have seen guys that can squat big weight that are terrible players," Herbert said. "Same thing with with sprinting. I have seen guys that can run a 4.3 and can't play a lick of football."

So Herbert takes into account the performance numbers in the peak of summer conditioning and how they eventually translate into actual football performance once the season begins Sept. 5 against Texas-El Paso.

"Now I want our guys to be great in the room," Herbert said of his domain. "I want them to dead-lift big weight and fly around and run well and do all the things we ask them to do. But if you can't take those skills to the game and perform at a high level, what are you doing it all for?

"I remind our guys of that quite often. 'You are not a power lifter. I am not getting you ready for a body-building competition. You are doing it to play football at a high level.' "

So far so good, Herbert says, about the current Razorbacks who have gotten it done on the field in the past and are getting it done in the summer weight room and agility drills.

"The cool thing is when we evaluate balance, when we evaluate strength and speed and look at all components, a lot of the guys that are the best at those things are some of our best football players," Herbert said. "That's what you want to see. Take what we do and apply it to your craft, and that's the game of football."

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema raved about "Coach Herbs" when Bielema coached Wisconsin and still raves about "Coach Herbs" going into their third season together at Arkansas.

Herbert's conditioning stamp showed in Arkansas' improvement from 3-9 in 2013 to 7-6 last season. Herbert takes pride in Arkansas winning three of its last four games in 2014 and the momentum that carried into his offseason weight room but hasn't forgotten those fading fourth quarters that marked five of last year's six losses.

"When I meet with the head football coach, you look at certain games and where did guys go wrong?" Herbert said. "The mind and the body go hand in hand. We definitely went back to the drawing board in the offseason and attacked some things. We will see how it carries over."

Sports on 08/01/2015

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