Rob Housler and Troy Niblack go through their workouts at the Oxley Center. (FAUOwlAccess.com photo)
No Payne, no gain
New FAU strength and condition coach Rod Payne's first task was changing player's weight room attitudes.
Originally published on
2/22/2010
by
Chuck King
BOCA RATON – Before FAU football players can become more physical on the field, they must first change their mindset off the field.
That’s the philosophy new FAU strength and conditioning coach Rod Payne has brought to weight room. And he’s instilling his values using the same drill sergeant mentality in the weight room that he shows on the practice field.
Players are going through most of the same physical workouts that they did last offseason. Payne, however, has ratcheted up the intensity in an attempt to get players to push themselves beyond their usual limits.
“I like the power of one,” said Payne, who took over for Matt Pleskovic in January. “If he did 10 [repetitions], give me one more. Give me what you can do and more.”
Payne earned a kinesiology degree from Michigan before playing in the NFL. As the defensive tackles coach last season he was among the coaches who were dismayed to see the Owls frequently overmatched physically, even in conference games.
He believes FAU can quickly become more competitive on the field by putting forth extra effort in the weight room.
FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger has seen immediate impact.
“I see results in the area that I am most concerned about – in the state of the mind,” Schnellenberger said. “The state of the mind has been corrected.”
Payne wants players to enter the weight room with the knowledge that they will leave exhausted. He’s created an atmosphere where players essentially act as assistant trainers pushing their teammates to break through boundaries.
In that respect, the time in the weight room is simultaneously building bodies and what Schnellenberger terms “the enthusiasm of the team and the team approach to weight lifting.”
“If there’s food on this plate, we empty our plates - plain and simple,” Payne said. “There won’t be crumb or morsel of effort left in our kids after they lift, after they train and after they practice. That’s it. I swear to it. It’s that simple.”
While players may bemoan the rigorous early morning sessions, they also share running back Alfred Morris’ belief that they will be better prepared for next season.
“I’m not enjoying it, but I’m enjoying it at the same time,” said Morris, who led the Sun Belt in rushing last season as a sophomore. “Everything is maximum effort. When you come out of that weight room you know you gave it all you got.”