IU football team leaner, stronger after offseason

While new head IU football coach Kevin Wilson was not allowed to have any on-field contact with players during the summer months, his influence still reverberated through the summer program run by strength and conditioning coach Mark Hill.

To prepare the players for Wilson’s upbeat style of offense, Hill increased the amount of running and decreased the amount of resting time.

Players ran up and down hills, ramps and stadium steps repeatedly to get
leaner.

“You’ve got to get guys in shape, you’ve got to lean them out,” Hill said. “But you’ve also got to get them strong, faster, bigger and able to withstand the position.”

The slogan for the summer was “nutrition and condition,” which both Hill and the administration took very seriously.

In March, IU hired Amy Freel to become the first full-time director of Sports Performance Nutrition at IU and in the Big Ten.

“As far as the slogan, ‘nutrition and condition,’ you can’t have one without the other,” Hill said. “And guys carrying around excess body fat, excess body weight is only going to slow them down, especially at the tempo at which we play.”

Freel has supplied athletes on all teams with more nutritious options like fruit and leaner meats to help fuel athletes and help them recover after exercising.

Freel, who held the same position at Virginia Tech for 13 years, makes individual plans for athletes and gives cooking demonstrations.

She also takes players grocery shopping and visits local restaurants from chains like Subway or Jimmy John’s to local places like Scholar’s Inn Bakehouse.

Whenever she hears a multitude of players commonly mentioning a local restaurant, she then goes to visit the restaurant.

She examines the menu and figures out nutritional values of various dishes.

“As far as nutrition goes,” Freel said, “I think it’s a component that a lot of athletes do not consider as part of their training. And it really can be a competitive edge when it comes down to fueling and recovering.”

The nutrition and conditioning efforts of Hill and Freel paid dividends as the summer progressed when many players showed noticeable changes in physique.

Hill pointed out that although all of the players have shown a great deal of improvement, some stood out.

On defense, Hill said even though senior linebacker Leon Beckum only lost four pounds over the summer, his body fat decreased from 16 percent to 11.8 percent.
Junior defensive tackle Mick Mentzer actually gained 12 pounds, but decreased his body fat by 3 percent.

On the offensive side of the ball, Hill noticed senior left tackle Andrew McDonald dropped 10 pounds and 6.5 percent body fat.

The offensive line as a whole lost between 4 and 5 percent body fat and junior quarterback Adam Follett slimmed down 20 pounds and lost 5.5 percent body fat, Hill said.

Hill noticed a difference between the way players reacted to spring practice and fall practice. Hill believed that spring practice was a bit of a shock to the players’ systems, but saw improvement in their physical condition.

“Guys were a little in awe, if you will,” Hill said. “But coming into this fall camp practice when you’re in the best shape of your life, you’ve been running, you’ve been doing the things you need to do, there’s no longer a shock.”

Co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Kevin Johns stressed that the coaching staff wants the Hoosiers to be as focused in practice as they are during the games.

“We want to play as fast as we can and we need to be in great, great shape or else we won’t make it through practice,” Johns said. “Coach Wilson has said a bunch of times that if we’re not going to be a great practice team, then we’re not going to play well on Saturdays. We’re trying to push to those guys how important you body is, and your nutrition, and your rest and your condition is to help us go practice.”