There are eight phases of Billy Napier’s year-round plan: Foundation, identity, spring practice, discretionary period, summer regimen, training camp, in-season, and post-season.
A large part of the summer regimen (phase 5) consists of the athletes working with the strength and conditioning staff in order to get their bodies prepared for fall camp.
Under the leadership of Mark Hocke, Florida’s strength and conditioning coach, the majority of the roster found significant improvement in the weight room over the last six months.
“I’m really proud of the progress that our team made this summer in phase 5,” Napier said during fall camp media day. “The development staff I thought in particular really improved in year two. All the metrics that we have from a testing perspective I think we took a step forward, strength speed, explosiveness. All the Dex information was really good.”
NOTEABLESÂ
- OLB TJ Searcy gained 12 pounds of muscle since January
- CB Jalen Kimber gained 8 pounds of muscle since April
- OLB Jack Pyburn gained 10 pounds of muscle since January / body fat down 6%
- CB Jason Marshall gained 7 pounds of lean muscle
- OLB Princely Umanmielen maxed in bench, squat, clean / Improved max velocity / gained 10 pounds of lean muscle / lost 7 pounds of fat mass.
- TE Tony Livingston gained 28 pounds of muscle since january
- OL Bryce Lovett gained 10 pounds of muscle and lost 10 pounds of fat.
- WR Andy Jean gained 9 pounds of lean mass
- QB Graham Mertz gained four pounds of lean muscle
- The Gators have 53 players reach their max velocity this summer
- WR Ricky Pearsall gained four pounds of lean muscle while slightly decreasing body fat
Florida has 14 full-time staffers that either work under Mark Hocke or in coordination with his team, covering areas such as nutrition, dietitian, strength and conditioning, sports health, speed improvement and player development.
“Certainly that group works together,” Napier said. “They execute as a team, the strength and conditioning, sports science, the nutrition, the training room. Really good leadership and insight from Mark Hocke and his staff, and then certainly the addition of Tyler Miles and Kelsey [ Gomes] continues to get better, Tony Hill and Paul Silvestri, that group of people has to work extensively together.”
Often times you hear the word “maintain” around a strength and conditioning program; Hocke’s staff believes that maintenance is a myth. They are looking to constantly improve off the field in order to help translate to on the field success.
“We are going to chase strength and speed year-round,” Hocke said on the first day of fall camp. “We have a plan in place to develop strength and speed year-round.”
Florida’s strength and conditioning staff has worked hard to prepare the Gators for phase six of Napier’s year-round plan: training camp.