685

SHARES a Facebook d Twitter 685 f Google+ h Pinterest k LinkedIn

Big Cats (Not Hogs)

When the Redskins were really good in the early 80’s, they had a top ight

offensive line. Their coach, Joe Bugel, nicknamed them the “Hogs”. Ever

since then, many offensive line coaches have used “hogs” as a term of
endearment. I don’t like it. I like *BIG CATS*.

*Feed the Cats* is an essentialist philosophy that is constantly searching to

nd ways to train smarter, not harder… to do less and achieve more. These

ideas can be applied far beyond the boundaries of sprinting.

I believe football coaches would be better served by focusing on high

performance instead of hard work, even when it comes to the “Bigs”.

Many high school coaches embrace *Feed the Cats*, but don’t see lineman

as cats. “The bigs are different. The bigs have to be worked.” Football
coaches see their football players as either cats or hogs. I disagree with that

approach.

The best offensive linemen in the world are big, strong, and FAST.

Let’s look at the six offensive linemen taken in the rst round of the 2019 NFL
Draft.

♦ #11, Bengals, Jonah Williams, Alabama, 6’4″ 302, forty time = 5.12

♦ #14, Falcons, Chris Lindstrom, Boston College, 6’4″ 308, forty time = 4.91

♦ #18, Vikings, Garrett Bradbury, NC State, 6’5″ 306, forty time = 4.92

♦ #22, Eagles, Andre Dillard, Washington State, 6’5″ 315, forty time = 4.96

♦ #23, Texans, Tytus Howard, Alabama State, 6’5″ 322, forty time = 5.05

♦ #31, Falcons, Kaleb McGary, Washington, 6’7″ 317, forty time = 5.05

Five of the six rst round picks had forty times ranked in the top seven of all

the offensive linemen in the NFL Combine. Six of the fastest eleven offensive

linemen at the NFL Combine were drafted in the rst round. This needs to

be shouted from the rooftops. If you were an offensive lineman at the

combine and your speed ranked 12th through 59th, you were not a rst-

rounder. The rst round picks were big, strong, and FAST.

Out of the 59 offensive linemen, here’s the forty yard dash rankings of the six

rst-rounders.
Lindstrom #2

Bradbury #3
Dillard #4

Howard #6

McGary #7

Williams #11

The slow rst-round guy, Jonah Williams made up for his 5.12 with explosive

strength. Wow, what did he bench? What did he squat? What did he clean?
Stop it! Weight room numbers are NOT key performance indicators.

Jonah Williams threw the shot put 60’10.25″ at Folsom High School

(California). The 60-foot shot put by Jonah Williams was recorded in his

junior season (graduated early).

Three of the six guys listed above played basketball in high school. Over the
past three years, 11 of the 14 offensive linemen picked in the rst round were

multi-sport athletes in high school. (For more stats like this, visit

trackingfootball.com, Mark Branstad and his buddies are revolutionizing

college recruiting!)

What are the takeaways?

Offensive linemen are tall (and must have long arms). The average height of

the six rst round picks, 6’5″. All six were within two inches of that height. No

outliers.

Offensive linemen are big. The average weight of the six 2019 rst round

picks, 312 pounds. All six were within ten pounds of that number. No outliers.
Offensive linemen are fast. The average forty time of the six 2019 rst round

picks, 5.02. All six were within 0.10 of that number. No outliers.

Nate Herbig

What happens to the outliers? What happens to offensive linemen who

were all-star players but not 6’5″, 312 pounds, and running 5.02 in the forty?

Nate Herbig played at offensive guard for Stanford where he’d been chosen

rst-team All-Pac-12. By all accounts, Herbig was one of the best offensive

linemen in the country. He left Stanford early for the NFL.

Herbig’s big three numbers at the NFL Combine? 6’3″ (too short), 335 (too

fat), 5.41 (too slow). What happens to linemen who are too short, too fat, and

too slow? They don’t get drafted. Period.

5.41 earned Nate Herbig the dubious distinction of being the slowest

prospect at the NFL Combine. Herbig was the slowest of 260 athletes

including quarterbacks. Even the legendary slow poke, Tom Brady, was

faster 19 years ago when he ran a 5.28. On a positive note, Herbig was faster

than ESPN analyst Rich Eisen (6.00).

Out of 103 underclassmen who entered the draft, 30 went undrafted. Nate
Herbig is presently an undrafted free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles. A

teammate calls Nate Herbig “the quickest 300 pound lineman I’ve ever

seen”, but quickness won’t get you drafted. You must be FAST.

On a side note, I am pulling for Nate Herbig to make it in the NFL.

Why is Speed a KPI?

The speed factor for offensive linemen is, for some, counterintuitive.
Offensive linemen don’t do much sprinting in a football game. Typically, their

job is get wide, take a couple steps backward, and protect the quarterback.

On rushing plays, linemen don’t take more than a few steps. Most linemen

will never get close to top speed in a game, ever. Then what makes the forty

time so important? The answer is obvious to me as a sprint coach. Speed has

global effects. Faster athletes are better at almost everything. The NFL has

found that the forty is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator). Fast offensive

linemen have better and longer careers than slow offensive linemen.

Note: for the video below, you will need to click on the link “Watch on

YouTube” or just click here: Andre Dillard.

Washington State offensive tackle Andre Dillard's …

What does this mean for a high school coach?

It seems obvious to me. Get your offensive linemen big, strong, and FAST.

Period. Anything that interferes with those priorities is counter-productive.

And, if you accept big, strong, and SLOW, you are cheating the kid. Speed

must be trained two or three times a week year-round. Even during the

season. Part two of this three part series will focus on *speed as a priority*.

Teach Healthy Living

The typical high school offensive lineman is fat. Fat kids are slow. We want

big cats, not fat cats.

Why don’t coaches teach healthy eating? Over-eating is not funny. Coaches
joke around with fat kids too much. I’ve seen offensive line coaches reward

their kids with one-pound hamburgers or “all the wings you can eat”.

Coaching football is an opportunity to educate kids. Shouldn’t football be

part of life-long tness?

Sleep deprivation is an epidemic with teenagers.

Here’s a fact that many coaches need to relay to fat kids:

“If you don’t get enough sleep, you are going to end up fat, sick, and

stupid.” – John Ratey and Richard Manning from Go Wild: Free Your Body
and Mind from the Af ictions of Civilization.

Maybe if you teach fat kids how to live healthy lives, you won’t have to torture

them at the end of practice. Part three of this three part series will focus on
*conditioning*.
Encourage Multi-Sport Participation

I block people on Twitter who argue that specialization gives kids a better
chance to make it to the “next level”. Private trainers everywhere preach

“next level” bullshit.

I troll the head FB coach at a high school in the south suburbs because I
have proof that the guy encourages kids to spend their spring in the weight
room instead of joining the track team. Here are three of his talking points…

♦ “Track doesn’t make you faster.”

♦ “Track speed is different than football speed.”

♦ “The biggest reason for not seeing playing time is strength, not speed.”

True educators encourage multi-sport participation. Sport participation is

educational. It’s not a “next level” thing.

But… What if multi-sport participation truly was, ironically, a “next level”

thing? In the last three drafts, 11 of the 14 offensive linemen picked in the
rst round were multi-sport athletes. Coaches discouraging a second sport

might be wrong. Maybe big strong basketball players also make big strong
offensive linemen. Maybe hiding out in a weight room nine months a year is

NOT the best path to the bigtime. Maybe throwing the shot 60’10.25″ didn’t
hurt the career of Jonas Williams.
 Jonah Williams, 60’10.25″ … I wonder what he would have done if he’d

stayed his senior season?

Love this quote from my friend, Ryan Grubbs (S&C, Purdue Football), “We

train our linemen like throwers and our skill guys like sprinters.” Brilliant!

On a related note…

Here’s a coaching tip for high school football coaches. Recruit basketball

players to your football program in late July or early August. Summer

basketball is over. Summer football is over. (FYI, Basketball players don’t

think summer football looks like much fun). Basketball players are terri c
athletes and will make an immediate impact on your football team. There

are NFL players who played college basketball, not college football. Great
athletes are great athletes.
Note: for the video below, you will need to click on the link “Watch on

YouTube” or just click here: Tytus Howard

Alabama State offensive lineman Tytus Howard's …

Titus Howard (above) was a basketball star at Monroe County HS in Alabama.

Why do offensive linemen have to be so athletic? They have to block big

cats. Offensive tackles like Titus Howard (6’5, 322) have to block defensive

ends like AJ Epenesa (6’6″ 280). Epenesa was a three sport star at
Edwardsville HS (IL). He now plays for Iowa and expects to leave after his
junior year for the NFL. Draft expert Sayre Bedinger believes Epenesa to be a

better prospect than Nick Bosa, picked #2 in the rst round by the Niners
this year.

Epenesa (below) spent his high school days in athletic competition. When

you are a football, basketball, and track star, you don’t spend much time in
the weight room. Great defensive linemen are elite athletes. Great offensive
lineman must match the athleticism of their opponents. It’s mano a mano.
Great athletes are great athletes and come in all sizes.

Offensive linemen are big cats. Don’t treat them like hogs.

This is the rst of a three-part football series. The next two will ruf e some

feathers. 

Links to the 2019 Football Trilogy

♦ Big Cats (Not Hogs)

♦ Football Coaches: Too Many Priorities

♦ Football Coaches: Stop Doing Mindless Conditioning

Tony Holler

@pntrack

630-849-8294
tony.holler@yahoo.com

Feed the Cats:

♦ The Boulder Tapes

(4.5 hours of content produced by Jay Johnson)

♦ Feed the Cats

(75 minutes with live demos, best seller for Championship Productions)

♦ Origin and Philosophical Basis of Feed the Cats

The Football Articles:

♦ New Ideas for Old School Football Coaches

♦ Football Dosage and Approach ⇒ FAQ

♦ Football: Differentiating Sprint Practice and Non-Sprint Practice

♦ A Football Coach’s Guide to Feeding the Cats

Record-Breaking Football Podcast

♦ Run the Power: Tony Holler

TFC Sponsors
♦ SimpliFaster

♦ Freelap

♦ Freelap Advice

♦ Tracking Football