Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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18 NOV. 13, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI E ither something was grossly and negligently wrong in 2016 when Notre Dame went 4‑8, or a marvelous epiphany over‑ came the same operation that began this November No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Whatever the answer — a probable combination of the two — its impact has been enormous physically, emo‑ tionally and psychologically. Physically, the standard operating procedure in the strength and con‑ ditioning program is to make your gains from winter through summer and try to maintain and not lose too much strength once the regular sea‑ son begins. However, the massive overhaul of Notre Dame's football infrastructure last winter, including a new strength and conditioning staff headed by Matt Balis, has sparked another seis‑ mic shift within the program. "We have numbers that speak to strength gains in the weight room," head coach Brian Kelly said Oct. 30. "Our ability to track it now has really given us a physical edge as we go into each week, and it's something that we can relate to our players weekly. … We're a stronger football team today than we were in August." Under the new staff, during foot‑ ball season speed squats and hang cleans are complemented by resis‑ tance band drills to help make this possible, according to Kelly — who then sounded more like a professor of kinesiology. "You're trying to work things off of a one‑rep max," he explained of the in‑season training. "About 75 percent of that needs to be what you're look‑ ing at, and we supplement that with band work. The band work gives us just about 65 to 70 percent of the one‑rep max, so you're lowering the weight and adding the bands to get to within 75 percent of the one‑rep max. And then we're working it off our elite forms, so we're moving the bar fast. "To get that number, we're taking the weight times the speed to get the wattage, and that's giving us the neuromuscular firing that's giving us those numbers that we can track our players. That is applicable to the force against the ground, and we're seeing some great moves for us." Whatever all that means … it sounds good. Translation: the emphasis with the bands is on developing fast‑ twitch muscle fibers to add power, speed and hypertrophy — while at the same time not lifting as heavily, thereby lessening the possibility of muscle strain or injury. "Physically, I feel stronger and faster," senior linebacker and team captain Nyles Morgan said. "I feel like my body is holding up way bet‑ ter than it did last year just because we're training so hard. … There isn't a week where I feel like I haven't got‑ ten better in some area." Fellow senior linebacker and team captain Greer Martini echoed those sentiments. "The biggest thing is that we're get‑ ting stronger as the season goes on, which hasn't been that way my first three years here," Martini said. "It kind of gives you a confidence in your body, whether that's cutting, being more physical at the point of attack …" Such confidence was reflected in that Martini underwent a surgi‑ cal procedure for a meniscus injury Oct. 12 — yet was back in the lineup for the North Carolina State game Oct. 28. He admits previously it might have taken a few more weeks. "The strength going in before surgery, the stronger you are, the quicker your recovery is," Martini said. "I think that definitely has an impact on it — also the surgeon, re‑ hab, all those components go into it." One of the important factors to the players is a heavy lifting day — spe‑ cifically squats for the lower body — on Mondays after games. "Monday is kind of our leg day, going through various workouts, making our legs stronger," Martini said. "We never really did that before during the season. We kind of stayed away from putting a bar on our back, lifting heavy weight. "I think it goes to prove that we can get stronger throughout the sea‑ son, makes us feel better even though you'd think we'd be even more sore." Last year, Kelly admitted he and the staff tried to accommodate the players' busy schedules, which led to compromise in the weight room. The reality is, the players wanted to be pushed. Do and conquer what you fear, and the fear subsides is how senior rover and team captain Drue Tranquill looks at it. "It's a grind, but it's what we want," he said. "We've seen, I think, the benefits from the challenge in the weight room, not necessarily just go‑ ing in there to maintain, roll out, do the things that we have in the past. Guys see it as, 'Yeah, it's tough.' "But we're so used to it now, our 11th month of doing it, it's kind of becoming second nature to us just to go in there and to attack it." The physicality of the 2017 team has been lauded nationally, but it began with a much tougher mental approach. "Every week it was like a race to Friday just so that you could get to Fri‑ day and try to recover as much as you could before the game," Martini said. "I think now we're going in fresh, go‑ ing into Saturday feeling better than ever, which is a big difference." Kelly also credited Dale Jones — SOUND MINDS & BODIES Physically and mentally, Notre Dame has become the polar opposite from a season ago "Physically, I feel stronger and faster. I feel like my body is holding up way better than it did last year just because we're training so hard. … There isn't a week where I feel like I haven't gotten better in some area." SENIOR LINEBACKER NYLES MORGAN