Time for the heavy lifting

Some of the workout routines are the stuff of daytime programming on ESPN2.

Guys cradling small boulders and then tossing them over their heads. Big (and some not so big) guys pulling weighted sleds, hurling cumbersome tires and carrying 150-pound sandbags around on their backs. And, a new one to look forward to: lifting bales of hay.

"We haven't done it yet, but we're going to get some (bales of hay). I'd like to," Mickey Marotti said. "We definitely do some strong-man stuff."

All this may sound like an episode of "World's Strongest Man Competition," but it's actually part of the offseason conditioning program for the University of Florida football team under Marotti, the new strength and conditioning director, and Matt Balis, the strength and conditioning coordinator for football.

There is nothing fancy or frilly or new-age about the regimen. It's your father's (or grandfather's) workout.

"It's not NFL style," new UF coach Urban Meyer said. "It's old school. This is college football."

And it's tough school. Demanding school. Push-it-to-the-physical-limit-and-beyond school.

"We're putting them in situations now where they have to learn whether to give in or not," Meyer said. "It's a lot of mind over body. We have a saying: 'Pain is weakness leaving the body.' Can you toughen your mind to the point where you can fight through the hard times? Football, more than any other sport, teaches that. The toughest teams usually win."

In an effort to become the toughest, the Gators not only are doing the standard things (running, lifting weights, going through agility drills) and the different and unusual (throwing heavy rocks and tires, pulling sleds and toting sandbags), they're also doing the dreaded - something new to everyone. Mat drills.

The mere mention of these probably gives the players sweaty palms and a queasy feeling deep in the pits of their stomachs.

Even now, having gone through them three times, the players say they are hard to describe.

"All I can say is the best way to go about it is to get excited about knowing you're going to have to lay it all out there that day," senior linebacker Todd McCullough said. "It's very intense. You will have to lay it all on the line."

The Urban legend around campus is that when the players do mat drills - every Wednesday at 6 a.m. - the strength staff bolts the doors to the weight room and provides puke buckets for the players at each of six stations.

"I don't know about puke buckets," Marotti said. "There was an uneasiness among the players when we first did the mat drills because they didn't know what to expect. Each time we've done them, they've been better."

So, what exactly are mat drills?

Marotti offers a synopsis.

"They are high-intensity quickness and agility activities done on mats," he said. "We have six different stations. We have seat rolling, up-and-downs, bear crawls and things like that. We have one where two players sort of wrestle, with one trying to keep the other from the line."

The drills are intense, competitive, and designed to push the players to the brink mentally and physically. There are winners and losers at each station.

Marotti said the drills build mental and physical toughness. He said they're demanding but safe and that members of UF's sports medicine staff are present at all workouts.

Meyer believes in mat drills. He said they made his Bowling Green and Utah teams tougher and helped forged a strong bond between the players. In three seasons at the two schools (the last two at Utah), Meyer was a combined 22-2, including 12-0 and a BCS berth for the Utes in 2004.

"It's all about energy, effort and not giving in," Meyer said. "We've been getting better.

"There are six stations and there is a finishing point in each one. There's a very clean and succinct format and if the players don't follow them exactly they start over. We have a combative drill where it is man vs. man and the toughest guy wins, but I don't want to give away too much. You finish with high intensity, where the whole team is involved.

"If everybody does it right, you're done. If someone screws up, you do it over again. It teaches discipline and accountability. It brings a team together. I've seen it twice (at Utah and Bowling Green)."

McCullough says he sees the same happening here.

"These drills enforce camaraderie and teamwork," McCullough said. "It's something where you see teammates working together and pulling for each other. It brings the whole team together. We're all here for one purpose - to get better.

"Everything is real competitive. One of the things Coach Meyer has emphasized is winning. The losers (in mat drills) have to do extra stuff, so there's an emphasis on winning. We're getting that competitive atmosphere back here where we're expecting to win every time we step on the mat or on the field."

McCullough said the mat drills and the offseason program in general have been tough, demanding and exhausting, but that no one has quit (no one's even come close), attitudes are good, and the players are eager to see how it pays off when the Gators start playing games in the fall.

"We're looking forward to seeing how all this works out next season," he said. "Coach Meyer instills a breath of confidence in all of us. The wins and losses are usually done behind the scenes. I think we're getting that done now.

"One thing I'm really excited about is instead of players saying, 'Gosh, we have to go through this (a coaching change) again,' it's been, 'Man, I really can't wait until we start playing.' The camaraderie has already been remarkable."

At this time of year, the football team is pretty much in the hands of the strength and conditioning staff, and Meyer obviously feels good about the guys in charge.

Marotti was the coordinator at Notre Dame the past seven seasons and is considered one of the best in the business. And Balis impressed Meyer with the job he did at Utah after Meyer promoted him to coordinator a year ago.

"I kind of knew Mickey was considered the best in college football as far as our style," Meyer said. "I promoted Matt Balis last year and he did as good as I've ever seen.

"In two years, we haven't lost the line of scrimmage or had a major muscle pull. That's a great evaluation for your strength program. I think we have the two best (strength) coaches in college football."

Marotti said the UF players have been receptive to the strength staff's methods - and the mat drills.

"They're doing things like we ask them to and each time we've done the mat drills they've gotten better," Marotti said. "We want them to work to their genetic potential and we're going to get them there. We've had significant gains in body composition. We've added lean muscle mass. The biggest thing we've seen is body fat has improved."

McCullough said the players are buying into Meyer's plan.

"We all heard how he was a disciplinarian," he said. "He's tough. He's demanding. At the same time, there's a purpose behind everything he does. We starting to see that now."

You can reach Robbie Andreu at andreur@gvillesun.com or by calling (352) 374-5022