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Friday, March 19, 2010

Van Halanger Talks Strength & Conditioning

The S&C program at UGA has been a hot topic of discussion since last season, which isn't surprising given Georgia's performance on the field in 2009. But while strength coach Dave Van Halanger admits it was a down year last year, he said things are definitely headed back in the right direction this season.

On mat drills this year...
“The last day, we gave out 18 As. We’ve never done that before. They have six stations and they have to have a total A. That means they’re performing at a high, high level. We had a bunch of B-plusses, too. So guys did a great job. Richard Samuel’s had six As. Christian Robinson, Shaun Chapas, Dent, they came out fighting. We’ve got guys who are fighting.”

On the input he's gotten from Todd Grantham, Scott Lakatos and Warren Belin...
“The NFL is different in the way they go about it. They don’t want to get guys hurt. We’ve got to get guys better. Those guys that come to Dallas, they’re pretty good. So they just maintain their strength. I talk a lot to Scott, talked a lot to Warren, about what did you guys do? Because they’re college, and you’ve got to get college guys better. They’re 18 and they’re going to leave here at 22 or 23 and you need to get them better."

On what the feedback has been from the new coaches...
"We’ve talked to (Lakatos and Belin) a lot, and there’s just a lot of similarities. It was the first time those guys saw our mat drills and they were like, ‘Wow, that’s really unique.’ Because a lot of people don’t do that – getting in early in the morning, but it’s mentality. You win football games because you’re mentally, physically and spiritually tough, and you can get it done when you’re on the field. It’s chemistry and morale, and you’ve got to create that. You’ve got to get the guys believing they can do that, and if you do, you’re going to win football games. We get our kids believing and going in the right direction. Last year, that was a pretty bad blip. But this year, I think it’s going to be pretty good. I’m excited about this year.”

And here's some video -- courtesy of Brandon Spoon -- of Van Halanger talking about the current state of affairs in the UGA S&C program...

3 comments:

ecdawg said...

Was CDVH saying that he hasn't talked to CTG or that CTG doesn't have relevent experience - or both?

todd said...

His response to Randy Cross and others about their criticism of his S&C program last year was not good enough. He talked numbers and records and yet our team looked winded multiple times last year. There's no excuse for that.

I hope we see results on the field this year.

William Neilson Jr. said...

Our DL has gotten man-handled the last 2-3 years by OL that are smaller and in better shape than us. We look fatter the last few years as well.

Players that have left have told us of players missing workouts, etc...

That is NOT what happened when Richt first came here.

We need a change at S&C if this continues