Competition part of winter work

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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

James Dobson might not know yet which Husker can throw the medicine ball the furthest, but he intends to find out.

Who can bench the most? Who can squat the most? Who covers 10 yards the fastest? Who has the fastest pro agility?

“You name it, any kind of thing you can compete with, our guys will compete at,” said Dobson, Nebraska head football strength coach.

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Nebraska strength coach James Dobson watches the lifting technique of Jonathon Santin, a redshirt freshman defensive end from Fullerton, during winter conditioning last year. (William Lauer)

Nebraska strength coach James Dobson watches the lifting technique of Jonathon Santin, a redshirt freshman defensive end from Fullerton, during winter conditioning last year. (William Lauer)

And you thought the games were done with for a while. To the contrary.

Winter conditioning begins for the football team on Monday, and already Dobson has about 20 competitions ready to throw at his men.

For where there is competition, motivation is usually not far away.

“I think competition is the key,” Dobson said. “Because if you think you’re going to turn on the competition switch only in August through December and win games, you’re out of your mind.“

Working on the physical aspect is a given during this period. But it’s as much about establishing the kind of mentality that you’ll want players to carry through spring and into the show-me months of the fall.

As offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said once, it’s this period, under the leadership of Dobson, when “a standard of expectation” is developed for the team.

“Everybody around the country is going to have strength coaches pushing guys physically, but it’s the mental aspect that’s going to be just as important,” Dobson said. “It’s a huge thing teaching guys how to approach lifting, speed training and conditioning, and practice and game-planning.”

And so work starts early. Dobson and crew will arrive at about 5:15 each morning.

One speed training session at 6:15. Another session for another group at 7.

Then it’s lifting. One session at 7:45. Another session for another group at 9.

From 10 to noon, Dobson works with seniors from the 2008 class with professional football ambitions. Zach Potter, Matt Slauson, Lydon Murtha, Nate Swift, Todd Peterson and Joe Ganz are among those still working out in Lincoln.

In the afternoon, it’s back to the team. A lifting session at 2. Another one for another group at 3:15. Go home and do it all again the next day, for eight weeks.

Gaining size is the biggest goal now.

“Our conditioning doesn’t have to be as important for us now as say going into July or going into August,” Dobson said. “So really this is a great time to increase size, and lean body mass, and strength and power.“

Putting in the work is obviously important, but just as important to Dobson is going about it the right way.

“You’re going to work, and you’re going to have to work. But then also you have to recover,” he said. “And when you’re dealing with athletes of this caliber, it’s not always how much work you can do. Sometimes it’s how less you can do and still get away with doing real good things because the recovery process is so important. And the guys that recover better, they’re going to get more benefits out of it.”

And so there are built-in recovery and rest periods within the winter conditioning program that aim to keep players fresh enough to maximize the months ahead.

Dobson is meeting with each of the players this week to get their input and hear their goals. He said he wants them to have a say, “a sense of ownership,” about what’s going on.

Last year, in Dobson’s first year at Nebraska, winder conditioning was “more of a teaching time, a teaching experience with our athletes about how we go about things, how we do things.“

But Dobson now believes everyone is up to speed and understands the expectations of this staff.

“The players aren’t going to really believe in you and trust you until they know how much you care about them,” Dobson said. “The old adage ‘They don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care’ is so true. And it takes time to develop relationships with guys. Coming in here and working with these guys day in and day out, the relationship has definitely gotten better. And they start buying into the program and what we do and what we believe in, and it’s just taken off from there.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.