One of the keys to the 2006 Buckeye squad will be their practice habits and practice tempo. It was pounded into our heads at Ohio State: “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” It isn’t always about just physically being better than the other team, nor is it about schemes all the time. One of the most underrated parts of football is a team’s practice tempo.
I was amazed when I had a “cup of coffee” with the Cleveland Browns after my senior season at OSU. So often you hear, “NFL players aren’t that much bigger than college players, but they are a lot faster.” I agree. I won’t argue that.
But another big difference is the tempo the professionals can practice. There is not a lot of hitting. There is not a lot fully padded days. There is not even much conditioning. It seems like many of the days are walk-throughs in fact. However, when the ball is snapped for a play, those NFL players are moving with great speed and technique. They are finishing the play. In high school and college settings, if a team is not in full pads or at least shoulder pads and helmets, the tempo slows down considerably. At the NFL level, the action is basically just as fast when the players are only wearing their helmets. That is the reason the NFL coaches will allow the players to wear only helmets many days. They are extremely productive in that environment. The attitude isn’t “Oh boy, we don’t have full pads on. This is like a day off.”
When I think about how some of the OSU greats practiced on different days with different equipment, the results speak for themselves. Eddie George practiced fast and hard every day. Mike Vrabel practiced fast and hard every day. Antoine Winfield practiced that way. Most especially, AJ Hawk practiced like it was a Big Ten team he was facing. Those guys went so hard during practice that they had more high velocity reps when game day rolled around. They never approached things with the attitude of, “I will just go 80 percent today, but I’ll crank it up to 100 percent on Saturday. I don’t want to wear myself out.”
I recall watching a spring practice in 2002. This was obviously the spring before the national championship, and I noticed a significant jump in practice speed. Everyone was full blast when they ran a drill, a 7-on-7 session, a punt return, etc. I’ve seen 4.3 players run 4.6’s during practice. Great teams will have the 4.3 guys running 4.3’s in practice.
Only a player knows if he is practicing at the right speed. That 4.3 player still looks fast at 4.6. Coaches notice just about everything, but sometimes they can’t even tell if someone is going 100% or 95% while hitting the sled.
Keep in mind, coaches know when to pull back. If they need to rest people with a walk-through, they will do just that. If they need to run 30 plays instead of 50 plays that day, they will adjust things.
There are many new faces on that defense. How many game-like reps will these youngsters have under their belt for that season opener?