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Right now, there’s a lot we don’t know.
While stay-at-home continues in Michigan until May 28, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared ‘We’re not going to be filling stadiums in the fall,’ on a radio show this week.
That doesn’t fully negate the possibility of football, given that the NCAA and the Big Ten — among other conferences — were set to finish out basketball without fans in the stands before the pandemic truly took ahold.
But what do those inside Schembechler Hall think? Not about if football will happen, but in the case of it returning, how much time does the team need to prepare?
The thing about football is you have to be fully prepared. Not just on scheme or the playbook, but conditioning-wise. You have to be in ‘football shape’ and capable of taking hits while doling them out. Otherwise, there could be a bevy of injuries.
Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown has the answer, as he shared in a conversation with Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast. He has both the ideal answer as well as the push-comes-to-shove one.
“Ideally, it would be nice if we could get back by the middle of June so we’d have six weeks where the guys focused on conditioning, training, those kinds of things, so that they can be in quality shape going into the preseason period,” Brown said. “Really let Ben Herbert and his staff sink their teeth into them. So ideally, if you’re asking me, I’d say six weeks – I’d be pretty pleased with that.
“However — I can remember when I was in I-AA and Division III – the whole thing, you’ve got three weeks to get the guys ready and it’s time to go play football. I think we have to be smart in how we handle the players in terms of their time on task. Give them a chance so you don’t have a lot of those soft tissue injuries and let the professionals take care of those guys and get them right so we can have a healthy football team from the opener.”
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So what does the team have to do to properly prepare for the season? And what is it capable of doing now?
At the moment, it’s a little topsy turvy. As Brown notes, not everyone has access to the same equipment. Plus, without having had spring football and with summer conditioning in potential jeopardy, there’s something of a curve when it comes to preparation.
Right now, regardless, the team isn’t physically where it needs to be. But with strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert leading the charge, it’s maintaining as well as it can, and can certainly get to where it needs to go if football activities are able to resume a month from now.
“Here’s the way I look at it: no matter what they’re doing, it’s not gonna be as optimal as it is when Ben’s overseeing them with the strength staff,” Brown said. “So you’ve gotta start from that standpoint. Obviously it’s gonna take some time to get the guys up and running at a high end of the week level, and that’s what you’re searching for. Get at an elite level so you can get them ready to play football games. I don’t think you can really say, because each guy’s situation is different. One young man might have a weight set downstairs and have a lot of equipment he can utilize. And another young man may have none. And I think Ben did a good job of utilizing backpacks and throwing rocks in the backpack and giving guys a creative way to condition. But the reality is just be prepared you’re gonna have to take them from point A, point B and point C back to an elite level so that you can function at a high level.”
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