Heat on college players to join summer workouts

ATHENS, Ga. — It's 8:22 a.m., and University of Georgia junior wide receiver Mario Raley already is bathed in sweat. He has just completed an 80-minute workout, including 22 minutes of running in the steamy morning heat.

Georgia football players run sprints on July 11. As many as 58 players have attended 'voluntary' workouts at the university.
By Michael A. Schwarz, USA TODAY
Although the NCAA's rules say summer strength and conditioning programs are voluntary, he raises an eyebrow when he hears the word voluntary.
"It's mandatory to us," he said between gasps for air. "Camp is less than a month away.
"You work now or go home. If you want to be great, this is what you have to do."
Georgia is not unique in this commitment to a summer workout program. College football players at Division I schools across the country routinely stay on campus in the summer to train and practice for the coming season.
• Georgia Tech has all its scholarship players in Atlanta working out, senior defensive end Eric Henderson said. The Yellow Jackets set up four times during the day for players to work out, the first at 6 a.m.
• Georgia Southern, a I-AA powerhouse, had about 80 players participating in its summer workouts in June and July, athletic department spokesman Pat Osterman said. I-AA schools can offer 63 football scholarships, but some of those scholarships are split between two players.
• Yale, which like all Ivy League schools does not award athletic scholarships, has close to 30 players working out at school, strength and conditioning director Emil Johnson said. That number will edge toward 50 around Aug. 1, about three weeks before training camp begins, Johnson said.
• California, which ended last season ranked No. 9 in the nation — its highest ranking since 1991 — had all of its scholarship players on campus for summer conditioning, according to athletic department spokesman Herb Benenson.
• Michigan defensive tackle Mike Massey said the Wolverines were working out this summer with all their scholarship players. - College Football -
Players have been staying at college in the summer for years, largely to take summer school classes. While coaches can't pinpoint a time the practice intensified, the numbers have grown since the early 1990s. When maybe 30 or 40 players stayed then, nearly everybody stays now. The Bulldogs have 101 players — veterans, incoming freshmen and walk-ons — participating in their summer workouts, which started June 6 and go through July, with players able to attend either of two sessions. On a recent day, 43 Georgia players participated in the morning workout and 58 in the afternoon. - College Football -
Players establish the culture in the offseason and keep attendance.
"If somebody is not here," senior defensive lineman Kedric Golston said, "we'll know it by the end of the workout and see what's up. We'll make sure they are OK and not hurt, and then we'll talk."
"Everybody is committed to the other guys on the team," senior center Ryan Schnetzner said. "And if you're not here, somebody playing your position is here working to get better."
An offseason of getting ready - College Football -
In Division I-A and Division I-AA, NCAA rules say football players can work out in a "non-mandatory" weight training and conditioning program in the summer with a strength coach for eight hours a week for eight weeks. Georgia's workouts are usually Monday through Thursday, with Fridays limited to running only.
The players bear down in the weight room with the steady beat of music. Dave Van Halanger, Georgia's strength and conditioning coach, is there for safety purposes but also to promote team-building and manage the process. - College Football -
"We work, but we tease a lot, we try and keep it fun," Van Halanger said. "There are very, very few times where I have to get after these guys in here, because they want to be great."
The eight allowable hours a week during the summer do not include the players gathering to run plays in seven-on-seven drills with no pads. Coaches are not permitted to conduct or watch the scrimmages, which start at 4:30 p.m. at Georgia and can last two hours.
Senior quarterback D.J. Shockley is one of the players in charge of the afternoon workout, where the Bulldogs quarterbacks, running backs and receivers run the team's pass routes against the defense. Linemen, Shockley said, work on their own drills.
"This way, by the time we get to the fall camp, we're fine-tuning, guys know the plays, we have some timing together," Shockley said. "We're motioning, we're running underneath patterns, the defense is blitzing." - College Football -
Reporters are not permitted to watch, though workouts are not officially sanctioned by the school.
And football players aren't alone on Georgia's campus in the summer. Rebecca Rowsey, a sophomore pre-med major on the women's basketball team, said all of the Lady Bulldogs were here in June lifting weights, playing pickup games and attending summer school.
"We would lift weights together three days a week, then we would do running and quickness and agility the other days of the week," said Rowsey, who was taking biochemistry in summer school. "We don't have to be here, but it is a good time to get some classes out of the way. And if we're at home, we don't get to talk to each other, and we get to be more laid-back when we're playing the pickup games. ... It's a great way to bond." - College Football -
While the football players were on their practice field, members of Georgia's defending national champion gymnastics team were on the track running laps.

Ray Glier, special for USA TODAY