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FBF Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: El Paso,Texas
Posts: 49,946
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UTEP football team's numbers add up nicely
Matthew Aguilar
El Paso Times
No one expected the UTEP football team to finish 8-4 overall and make its first bowl appearance in four years in head coach Mike Price's first season with the Miners last year. But it did, and now fans are wondering what Price and company will do for an encore.
If the strength and speed numbers for this past offseason are any indication, the Miners may be even better.
The team improved its average offseason numbers in almost every category, including vertical jump (31 inches last year, 33 this year); standing long jump (8 feet, 5 inches last year, 8-10 1/4this year); bench press (298 pounds last year, 314 this year), squat (385 pounds last year, 400 this year) and 40-yard dash (4.91 seconds last year, 4.79 this year).
Also, there were 29 players with verticals better than 35 inches, compared to 25 last year.
"I think our main concern is that we take athletes and make them better," Price said. "Better people, better football players, better students. And so, as a whole, as long as we show improvement every year, we're going in the right direction. (Strength and conditioning coach) Kirk Davis has done an awesome job when it comes to all those stats. He has new ideas and players like him and respect him, and he's done phenomenal. He is and will be a reason for our success now and in the future."
Davis is a former member of the United States National Weightlifting Team who competed in the 1996 Olympic Team Trials. He arrived at UTEP in 2002 as assistant strength and conditioning coach, and was promoted to the top spot in 2003.
He said the most significant numbers posted by UTEP players this winter were in the 40-yard dash.
"The speed factor is huge," he said. "Speed kills. You can't ever be too fast. It doesn't matter how strong you are if you can't catch someone."
As a result, the individual 40 times were eye-opening. Senior receiver Jason Boyd ran a 4.35; senior linebacker Thomas Howard, 4.37; senior running back Tyler Ebell, 4.4; senior receiver Chris Francies, 4.4; and sophomore tight end Jake Sears, 4.6.
But the most impressive was junior receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins, who clocked in at a blazing 4.18.
"I've never seen that," Price said. "I still don't believe it."
Higgins, who ran a 4.28 last winter, said everything was in place for his best-ever time.
"I was feeling good," he said. "It was the evening, and the wind and everything was right. My legs were feeling good and, when I ran, I knew I ran good. But I didn't know I ran that well. And as soon as I got to the phone, I called my parents to let them know."
Sophomore running back Marcus Thomas went from a 4.56 last year to a 4.47 this year, and improved his vertical jump by 7 inches (from 32 to 39 inches) -- impressive considering he added 17 pounds to his frame (from 185 pounds to 202).
"Last time I jumped (32 inches) and I wasn't very happy about that," Thomas said. "So I just kept doing squats and power cleans. It's funny because, after I got a 38, coach Davis I guess didn't believe I jumped it. So when I got done with the 40-yard dash, I went back to the weight room and jumped a 39. He just shook his head."
Thomas is competing with Ebell and senior Matt Austin.
"I'm just trying to work hard, trying to get that starting spot," he said.
Other outstanding individual numbers: sophomore receiver Emeri Spence (44-inch vertical) and junior college transfer receiver David Sutton (10-10 in the standing long-jump).
Davis said, "Each kid has their individual strengths, but the biggest thing I would say about our team is the consistency and intensity with which they trained. Those are two things that we (showed) as a football program. A lot of that is brought in by coach Price and his staff, and the kids' understanding of what it takes now to be good. It's such a competitive environment now. Either they get better, or they get left behind. And so the kids are coming in and not missing workouts and training very hard."
Davis said the winter is the most important time of the football year in terms of strength.
"We are looking to gain lean muscle mass, and to get as big and strong as we possibly can," he said. "We do a little bit of conditioning, but that's not a real emphasis in the winter. In the summer, that's when we put all the emphasis on turning those mean muscle gains into football-specific power and explosive speed. And we also work a lot on fitness and conditioning."
UTEP strength and conditioning standouts, Winter 2005
Team averages:
Vertical jump (31 inches in 2004, 33 in 2005)
Standing long jump (8 feet, 5 inches in 2004, 8'10 1/4 in 2005)
Bench press (298 pounds in 2004, 314 in 2005)
Squat (385 pounds in 2004, 400 in 2005)
40-yard dash (4.91 seconds in 2004, 4.79 in 2005)
29 players with verticals over 35 inches, compared to 25 last year.
Individual:
40-yard dash:
Johnnie Lee Higgins, 4.18
Jason Boyd, 4.35 seconds.
Thomas Howard, 4.37
Tyler Ebell, Chris Francies, 4.4
Running back Marcus Thomas, 4.47
Tight end Jake Sears, 4.6.
Vertical jump:
Receiver Emeri Spence, 44 inches
Running back Marcus Thomas, from 32 inches in 2004 to 39 inches in 2005, while gaining 17 pounds.
Standing long-jump:
Receiver David Sutton, 10 feet, 10 inches.
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UTEP football team's numbers add up nicely
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