Random thoughts during spring football

Aaaaaaah it’s spring football time. Small tidbits, little blurbs, and almost no practice coverage. That’s the best way to blow practice superstars out of proportion and wonder why they fade under the lights on Saturday in the fall.

Instead, I’m going to talk about the NCAA, the baseball team who is playing games whether they realize it or not, strength and conditioning and TV!

NCAA is a dumpster fire

I have no feelings for or against Jay Bilas, I hardly know anything about Mr. Bilas at all. However, I 100% support and agree with his stance against Mark Emmert’s comments re the women’s basketball ‘exercise room’ at the NCAA women’s tournament. Look, college student-athletes are grown men and women. They’re adults. The semantics argument is moot for me. Words have meaning.

Often, someone in Emmert’s position uses the wording “kids” to remind everyone that the athletes should stay silent, in their place, and keep in mind the ‘real adults’ own this house and everything in it. The NCAA is a dumpster fire for many, many reasons and the treatment of the women’s basketball athletes is just another reminder.

But again, they’re adults. Something I have tried to explain to administrators, coaches, parents and even students alike is that once your student is now SnapChat’ting their unmentionables, driving a 150MPH rocket down the street, skipping classes, making adult decisions, having jobs, paying taxes, and dropping out- they’re an adult. Hell, in some states a 14 year old can be tried as an adult, so we educators and mentors had better stop referring to our younger generation as “kids” when they are old enough to go off to war or be sentenced to the death penalty.

The weight room and training table disparity between the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments says all we need to know about Mr. Emmert and the NCAA. It’s time for a change in leadership.

Baseball swept by FSU

The Miami Hurricanes baseball team was absolutely worked by rival Florida State this weekend by a tune of 34-2. I’ve never been a fan of the Gino DiMare hire. I loved the series win over the Florida Gators, but since then, this is the result ‘Canes fans have come to have to accept.

Three Hurricanes are hitting .300 or above in DiMare’s lineup: The del Castillo brothers and Anthony Vilar. That trio has combined to hit six home runs and drive in 42 runs. That’s nearly half the RBI’s (87) and HR’s (15) from three players. Experienced hitters like Alex Toral and Ray Gil have completely tanked.

On the mound, Miami’s best starter might be midweek starter Jake Garland. Garland has a 4.44 ERA (5 Apps, 2 GS) while Victor Mederos stands at 4.56, Alejandro Rosario is slightly above him with a 4.44, too. Friday-turned-Sunday starter Daniel Federman has an 8.64 ERA. One of the lone bright spots in the bullpen is Carson Palmquist. Palmquist has made seven appearance, pitching 13.1 innings without giving up an earned run.

Spring game to be televised!!

The Miami Hurricanes football team will have their spring game televised for the first time since... well... I can’t remember! The game will be held on April 17th at 11am on the ACC Network. While spring games are fairly boring it is a chance to see Tyler Van Dyke, possibly Jake Garcia, and other young bloods get their first real playing time in orange and green.

A ton of details about the scrimmage have yet to be released, such as the format (Offense versus Defense or Orange versus Green), timing (four full quarters? running clock?) or competition level (1’s versus 1’s or 1’s versus 2’s?). But, after the past 12 months of COVID life it’s exciting just to have the ‘Canes back on the field for spring football again.

Strength and Conditioning

In the past on SOTU I have written a bunch of posts on strength and conditioning, including but definitely not limited to “Squat of the U.” You can feel my vibe on the NCAA and the lack of equity between the men’s and women’s facilities and food at the basketball tournaments. Females deserve the same access to strength and conditioning as males. Period. If you think otherwise you’re wrong.

Preparing the knee to avoid ACL tears

A common injury in football and basketball players is the torn ACL in the knee. One of S&C’s good guys out there floating around the Twitterverse is Tom Broback. Tom wrote a great piece for Simplifaster about ACL injuries in basketball players and how to prepare the body for the grueling work basketball players are performing. No sport seems to play as many games, have as many practices, and avoid ‘training’ quite like middle school and high school basketball.

They play year round, they practice year round, and they train almost never.

Why I don’t run 110’s or 300’s

If you’ve ever wondered why the allegedly fast Miami Hurricanes rarely outrun anyone not named Duke or UAB it’s because the program loves to brag about 110’s. 110’s aren’t beneficial to phosphagen athletes. Their energy system just doesn’t call for it. But not only is it inappropriate conditioning for the sport, they’ll jack up your mechanics, too.

Ever watch Zach McCloud sprint and wonder why he can’t make a play, come to balance, and change direction? Because McCloud runs with terrible form. Stick to driving sleds, sprinting short bursts that make sense for the position you play, and focusing on visual-cognitive-motor development. Save the 110’s for stupid high school coaches or your opponent who has injuries late in the season and wonders why his team peaked before October.

Which freshman are you most excited about this spring, the poll: