The Coronavirus pandemic has turned the college football world upside down. Campuses are closed. Spring practices are cancelled. And like many other businesses, coaching staffs are having to manage remotely.
247Sports’ network of analysts asked coaches how they are adapting to this unprecedented layoff. In Part I, coaches gave the scoop on how they are handling recruiting during the prolonged dead period.
Here, they discuss how they are managing their current rosters.
Coaches all expressed that they are still working pretty full days, even though most staffs are working from home. And for some coaches, the learning curve with the technology is somewhat steep.
“So the way it works for us is we meet as a staff in the morning, meet with our unit either defense or offensive staff, then recruit in the afternoon on our own whether that's DM, texts or getting a kid on FaceTime,” an assistant coach said. “Then we check in with our strength staff daily. It's all changing too, every little bit we move forward, we change things and say it works better this way or that way.”
Scheme and team
This past weekend would have been a big block of spring games throughout the country. Instead, campuses are closed.
Coaches are concerned with the lack of spring practice impacting the quality of the football product come fall. They are having to install their schemes and teach the players over video chat with screen sharing, but on-the-books teaching is limited to just two hours per week.
“Teams are able to meet with players for two hours a week on zoom for install meetings with their position coaches," an SEC coordinator said.
However, several coaches revealed that while they cannot schedule more than that two-hour meeting, if a player (or perhaps several players) come to the coach with questions, then the coach can chat with them much like he could if the player(s) came to his office in the football facility.
“In that way, we can get more time with them than the two hours,” an ACC coordinator said. “And we need it. Teaching over Zoom is new for us and leaning over it is new for them.”
The lack of spring practice is especially concerning for new coaching staffs or staffs with new coordinators.
"Biggest obstacle for new staffs vs. old staffs is spring practices and spring game being canceled,” an SEC assistant said. “Sets the new staffs behind on installation. The players can only watch so much film from previous stops."
With those worries, many programs have been publicly advocating for an extended fall camp period.
Working out, eating well, and rehabbing
Staffs are extremely worried about the conditioning status of their players, almost all of whom are not on campus like they usually would be over the summer.
“The biggest challenge is structure,” a Big Ten assistant said. “When they're on campus, they have practice, meetings, class, structure every single day. Now these guys have to be really really tuned in and stick to it to make sure they're getting up, eating breakfast, getting workouts in and making sure those workouts have the intensity of what it would be like in the weight room at our place. For me, you get scared they're too far away and are removed from the team part of it so you don't want them to forget what's important."
"We could have one kid we want to be 300 pounds show back up at 340 and another we want at 300 show back up at 270," an ACC assistant said.
Player access to gyms and weights is a major concern. In many parts of the country, gyms are closed. Some players may have access to some weights or a home gym, but others do not. And some schools are sending equipment to players to work out at home, while others seem to believe that the practice is not allowed.
Almost all schools seem to be sending customized workout plans based on the equipment available to the athletes.
The NCAA’s directive issued on April 1 regarding voluntary workouts and athletic activities specifically stated that schools may not supervise the workouts and that players may not report their progress to coaching staffs.
“May not supervise or conduct such workouts" and that players "may not report voluntary athletically related activities to institutional coaches or staff members."
Practically, in order to put on a lot of good muscle or maintain a high athletic body mass, weight lifting, and not just body weight exercises, are essential.
And the NCAA’s directive is being ignored in whole or in part at many schools.
247Sports spoke with multiple staffs who monitor their player’s progress daily, either by having players record their workouts and directly upload the videos, or by monitoring a player’s social media page.
“Current players can be sent food and care packages like protein and workout materials,” an SEC coordinator said. “They will send coaches videos of their workouts.”
And it’s not just in the SEC.
“As far as workouts, we're using zoom to stay in contact and make sure they’re working out,” a Pac-12 defensive coordinator said. “They all have tailored plans but we know not everyone can get to a gym so the ones that can work out at home with equipment, we set something up more specific for them.”
“We've talked to some players that have workout setups in their garage or basement but some are just doing push-ups and sit-ups,” a Big 12 assistant said.
It’ll be funny to see teams trying to copy us and catch up... too bad we too far ahead. We built different. Whole team on the same page. No need to run after guys, everyone is all in. #Bleed #Savages @TarHeelFootball pic.twitter.com/i96NTHb45V
— Patrice Rene (@TriceTopszn) March 26, 2020
And the technology race is also taking off.
USA Today reported that several programs had a problem with Alabama issuing Apple Watches to its players for the purpose of monitoring and tracking their workouts:
"It set off a frenzy in compliance offices around the country to determine whether Alabama had broken a rule or merely found a loophole that others could also exploit.
"According to one person who had input into the NCAA’s ever-evolving guide into the dos-and-don’ts of this unprecedented period, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak for the NCAA, Alabama is flatly breaking the rules."
Alabama’s interpretation, of course, is different. Head coach Nick Saban said that the program’s primary responsibility during this coronavirus pandemic is the health, well-being and safety of the team, and the watches allow the Tide to monitor aspects like heart rate and sleep.
Nutrition is another major concern of staffs. Some players will be able to get the quality and quantity of calories back home that schools normally provide, but many will not. Staffs are concerned about the high variance of body types that will show back up in the fall.
“Our nutritionist is doing video conferencing with those guys but it's a lot of self accountability,” a Big Ten assistant said. “That's something we're going to talk about more as a staff, but our nutritionist has been reaching out. We have players with some means to eat the right things, but you don't know what these guys are all going to eat. So it's on them to hold themselves accountable for what they put in their body.”
Rehab also has many coaches worried. They expressed that their players often have surgery in December or January to clean up or repair injuries suffered during the season. When the players are on campus, their attendance at their rehab appointments and progress is closely monitored.
But players are home opens a can of works. Coaches brought up issues of insurance, insurance changes, lack of transportation, some rehab facilities closing, etc.
“We don’t know how these guys will bounce back,” an ACC assistant said.
Academics changes
Academics are another major area of concern for staffs.
“Academically, nothing has changed in terms of how we reach out and monitor what they’re doing,” a Pac-12 coordinator said. “We can’t track who’s going to class like before but we still stay in touch and make sure everyone is getting their assignments in. They still get help via tutoring online, that’s still available for them so that’s a good thing.”
But some staffs are more concerned. One known secret of college football is that some players need big spring semesters to get (or stay) eligible for the fall. And there is concern that the lack of in-person tutoring combined with all-online classes and assignments could cause some athletes to struggle -- especially those who normally get a lot of extra help.
“Don’t be shocked if 2020 has a few more academic casualties than a normal football season,” an ACC administrator said.
247Sports analysts Gabe Brooks, Clint Brewster, Allen Trieu, Brandon Huffman, Brian Dohn, Greg Biggins, Steve Wiltfong, and Blair Angulo contributing.
"football" - Google News
April 06, 2020 at 10:03PM
https://ift.tt/34fvfOd
Working from home: College football programs adapt and adjust - 247Sports
"football" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2ST7s35
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Working from home: College football programs adapt and adjust - 247Sports"
Posting Komentar