Albert Haynesworth: Largest. Man. Ever. His hand swallowed mine during the initial meet and greet. Not only was he a great athlete to work with, but also a very nice, humble guy. There were about 20 current U. of Tennessee* football players in the indoor practice facility for a voluntary workout during Albert’s on-field drills, and they couldn’t take their eyes off him. It should be illegal for a man that large to move so fast. Best of luck to NFC East running backs this season.

*I have no idea if the collection of UT players consisted of superstars, benchwarmers, full-ride guys or walk-ons, but I can tell you this much: they’re huge and committed to training (9 a.m. voluntary sessions in the summer). For all you high schoolers striving to get to the next level, just remember, the competition is cutthroat and sometimes it boils down to who’s hungrier.

Workout Overview: Haynesworth started the morning with some on-field position-specific drills. Here’s what separates this All-Pro from other 6’6” 350-pound NFL players and men roaming this Earth: his footwork. He moves as well as some of the NFL DBs from last week’s shoot at IMG (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but his graceful agility was very impressive for a man his size). One point to ponder for all you d-linemen—or any athlete—is to always work every possible plane of movement you might encounter during a game. Haynesworth worked on his up-field explosion and his lateral “pursuit-and-chase” ability, as well as his backpedaling technique. True, it will be rare when he backpedals in a game, but if he does, he’s ready for it.

After the reaction, speed and agility work, the former UT great hit the weights. Since NFL training camp is quickly approaching, the workout was light on lifts, but heavy on intensity* and sets. Tripp Smith, director of performance at Competitive Edge Sports and Albert’s strength and conditioning coach, focuses on supersets in the weight room to cut down on time, add an element of conditioning to the workout to get the heart beating and keep a player’s weight in check. Lots of emphasis was placed on shoulders, traps and legs today—all necessary components to deliver a vicious slobberknocker on the field.

*The Tennessee strength staff wears “inTensity” t-shirts to the office. Appropriate and very clever, if you ask me.

Reader-Submitted Question: In the last blog entry, I asked readers to email a question to ask Albert. After reading through numerous submissions, Owen from Duluth, Minn. is our big winner.

Owen: What is your biggest weakness or area you need to improve on as a DT?
Albert: [smirks] “None.”

There you have it, Owen! Thanks for all the submissions, and we’ll continue to ask our readers for questions they want answered during upcoming shoots/interviews.

Special Thanks: Shout out goes to Tripp Smith, director of performance at Competitive Edge Sports based in Atlanta, Ga. Smith’s father, Chip, is one of the most renowned independent football strength coaches in the country. His top clients include Brian Urlacher, Champ Bailey and about 300 other NFL players. Tripp knows his training and created a great summer program for Haynesworth this off-season. Be sure to check out Tripp and Haynesworth on STACK TV in the near future.

Putting the “Sport” in Sports Agent: Images of "Jerry Maguire" flood the mind when one thinks about a sports agent (well-dressed, clean, proper, finely coifed, former “wannabe athlete” who was cut by the middle school basketball team). However, this isn’t the case for Albert’s agent, Chad Speck. A former Clemson strong safety, Speck performed every on-field drill that Albert worked on in the morning (and quite well I might add). I can’t even make this up. Some agents talk about “commitment” to a client, while others prove it.

Pat on the [STACK] Back: I was able to catch up with U. of Tennessee basketball strength and conditioning coach Troy Wills in the weight room for the first time since our training director Scott Mackar worked with him for a training shoot. He was very complimentary of the October 2008 magazine article and thought the videos were amazing. Troy mentioned that all of his players were reading the October ’08 issue in the weight room and raving about the training videos on STACK TV. College and pro athletes are checking out our ever-expanding library of training videos and articles, so you should, too.

Motivational Graffiti: Painted on Tennessee’s weight room wall: “Great players and great teams want to be driven. Ordinary players and average teams want it easy.”

Slim Shady Never Left: Workout music of choice in the Vols’ weight room: Eminem.

You Know You’re a Big Shot at UT If… you have your own street. On-campus UT streets are named in honor of legendary athletes and coaches. For instance, hanging a left on Phillip Fulmer Way, instead of a right on Chamique Holdsclaw Drive, which wraps around to Todd Helton Drive, will get you on Johnny Majors Drive and take you to The [Robert] Neyland-Thompson Sports Center, but don’t go too far on Johnny Majors or else you’ll hit Pat Head Summitt Street. Road not traveled on: Peyton Manning Pass, but bonus points for a creative street name.

55 Means 55: Encountered five different cop cars nestled along the road (129 North) during the 10-minute drive into campus for the shoot. If you don’t want to volunteer money to the great state of Tennessee, abide by the speed limit.

Heavy Metal: Airport metal detectors detect metal. If you pass through a metal detector with metal on your body, an alarm will sound, thus causing personal embarrassment and a delay for other non-metal-abiding travelers trying to quickly go through said metal detector. Please be a responsible traveler and dispose of all metal and metal-based products in the bins conveniently located next to the conveyer belt. Such items consist of metal and may cause an alarm: nifty aviator sunglasses purchased for $10 at a mall kiosk, a snazzy oversized belt buckle, necklaces (non-A&F puka shell variety), fanny packs containing antique coins, bling-bling cubic zirconium earrings and keys to an ’89 Chevy Astro van.

Rate this article:   1  5