No rest for Fayetteville offensive line amid 7-on-7 craze
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008
While the skill position players, secondary and linebackers clash in 7-on-7 competition this summer in preparation for the fall state, the men in the trenches again take a back seat to the men logging all the stats.
Fayetteville's offensive and defense lines may not get any ink this summer, but they're laboring diligently to make sure that when the season starts, everything written about them is positive.
While receivers and quarterbacks hone their timing, the linemen spend their time in the weight room and at Harmon Field gasping for air after a grueling slate of conditioning.
Offensive line coach Mark White is charged with the weightlifting and conditioning program. All players are responsible for making 16 weight-room workouts over the summer. Each workout spans 1 hour, 15 minutes with five different stations. The workout concludes with conditioning.
Skill position players, secondary and linebackers are responsible for scheduled conditioning as well but Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said his big uglies are getting twice as much while their cohorts are busy performing on the 7-on-7 stage.
"They're not just eating, I can tell you that," Patton said. "They work hard with all our other guys and then the offensive and defensive linemen also have mini-camp sessions where they work on fundamentals, schemes and drills to make them better. They also get in extra conditioning."
Mondays after weight training, the linemen run gassers. Tuesdays feature 110-yard sprints. Patton said his troops are currently running six but will work up to 14 next week.
Wednesday features 40-yard dashes. Last Wednesday, the linemen ran 22, 40-yard sprints. The linemen round out the week with a 12-minute run on Thursdays.
"Our linemen do all the conditioning with the team," Patton said. "Our linemen also do a lot of conditioning during their mini-camps so they're getting plenty of work in. Will they be in as good a shape as our receivers and d-backs ? There's just no way. But we get them as close to that football shape as we can. "
Patton said many of his linemen will go both ways so conditioning has been a focal point this summer.
"We've got a lot of kids who are going to be on both sides of the ball," Patton said. "So it's going to be real important that those guys are up to speed and in as good a shape as they can before practice starts."
Patton said White is bumping up the intensity of the conditioning regimen for the linemen each week in preparation for the first official day of practice Aug. 4. Full-pad rehearsals will begin Aug. 7.
"We may not be in great football shape but we did 22, 40 s the other day," Patton said. "These guys are well-conditioned and it's just a matter of getting them out and practicing. That's the only way to get them into football shape is to go at it on the field at a high and intense pace. We're just working toward that."
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