taekwondave wrote:
Did you guys really forget how many groin and hamstring injuries we had last year? And the year before? And the year before? This is a common theme. And you don't stretch before workouts you stretch after workouts. Stretching before causes tearing. Mckay Jacobsen tore his hammy stretching in pre-game warmups. Missed a few games didn't he? I know Omer's strategy. I know the complaints that have come from many in BYU about his outdated training methods. I've spoken with trainers who cringe at the sound of his name and can name you twenty stupid things he's doing to our football players. I do remember people chanting the P90x thing too. I couldn't tell you what P90x would or wouldn't do for an athlete but I COULD tell you what yoga would do for a football team. Especially by way of groin and hamstring injuries. Why hasn't he been replaced yet? Well, you could argue that we don't have THAT many more injuries on average than other teams. But to me that doesn't cut it. Other teams might be using the same outdated methods. That just proves more trainers are doing stupid things, it doesn't prove we shouldn't replace our guy. I LIKE Omer as a guy. He's funny. He's good-natured. But man...athletes that don't get extra help are at risk with his methods. This may be pointless to even talk about because I'm not sure BYU has even come off of their hiring freeze. Omer might only still have a job because of that and everyone is giving him the benefit of the doubt because they like and trust Mendenhall. I do too but I have to wonder if that's the only reason Omer is still here.
And it's not just hammies and groins. It's knees too. Knee injuries are GREATLY reduced with proper training. And we all know what kinds of problems we've had there with linemen. Or have we SERIOUSLY forgotten that? I was on cougarblue a few months ago and EVERYONE was complaining about the number of totally preventable injuries our team was sustaining. Am I taking crazy pills? I guess I'll just leave this alone until fall ball and the first few weeks of the season proves this point again and we remember what we seem to have suddenly forgotten with all this expansion talk. And please...PLEASE try to remember how slow we were compared to TCU, and if you think speed can't be taught and trained then you've been watching Omer too long. I left a link for this guy up top because he's a clear example of someone that understands this. Shaving two tenths of a second off of forty times for people that just got done working out with Omer for four years tells me something. I bet Harvey is faster in a few months than he ever was at BYU.
As for our success, I'd say we have great schemes and good coaching and we go with what continually works. We might even be a well-conditioned (as in pure endurance) team but there are too many knee, hammie and groin injuries not to make you stop and think. And there are also too many guys that arrive here and never get any faster than they were in high school and in many cases, lose a step for us not to want some answers.
You lost all credibility with me, when you said you don't stretch prior to workouts. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (one of the pre-eminent training facilities in the world) did 4 days of noon-conference (conferences sponsored for continuing education for physicians) at our hospital and stated often that the primary cause of most injury in sports is lack of proper stretch and warm-up prior to strenous exercise. Now, whether the stretching and warmups are proper are a completely different subject, and I cannot speak to that as I have no experience with how BYU does that. (I'm also not disagreeing that yoga is a good idea though, but again yoga is a form of warm-up/stretch)
What I do know is that I've spoken to pro athletes here in Kansas City, that had experience with Jay Omer, and can't say enough good things about him. Troy Edwards literally chased me down in a KC Chiefs players tent after their game (I was wearing a BYU cap) and brought up how lucky BYU is to get Jay Omer (this was the year after Crowton came to town). His enthusiasm really sold me, and he's not the last former Omer athlete that has said things like that to me.
The same slow team that lost to TCU, also beat Oklahoma and overwhelmed many teams the last few years; including a 59-0 beatdown of UCLA when we were told that we could never match their speed.
Is it possible that a guy like Omer that has done this for a couple decades is getting behind the times? Sure, same thing happens with coaches, attornies, doctors, teachers, etc.
Does that mean that his methods are ineffective and are resulting in player injuries like last seasons hamstring injuries? I don't think so; in fact, I'm not sure that our team has any more problems with injury than any other major college football program. We're in the winningest 5 year span in BYU history... do you really think this is in spite of Jay Omer? I dont' buy it.
I'm not sure you could name me a single game the last 5 years that would hve been moved from an L to W if we do as you ask and replace him with a different trainer.
There are slower and smaller teams that have had some success against TCU (Air Force pushed them to the edge) so personally, for whatever reason, I think our faults are more about scheme and matchup than just speed; and there's only so much you can do about speed with training. The easiest way to fix speed issues is to recruit it and BYU has been making that a higher priority and starting to take the TCU brand of moving players from receiver and running back to linebacker, linebacker to dline, tight ends to tackle, for the sole purpose of speed.
Who knows if the 6-7 guys (all were known for speed) that helped blow up the Crowton era had managed to keep their noses clean if maybe we'd be known for speed sooner... though I think we all agree if that's what it took to run Crowton out of town,it was probably worth it. Bronco and crew have a plan and it's working; if they think that Jay Omer is the guy to help them meet their goals, then I'm tempted to drink the koolaid and enjoy the ride.
