PARIS — Michigan first year strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert has earned his reputation as one of the nation’s best, and he’s getting the most out of his players.
Many of them — too many to count — praised him this spring for helping reshape their bodies. Defensive coordinator Don Brown credited ‘Coach Herb’ for getting his players bigger and faster, and it was clear from program videos Herbert brought out their best in the weight room.
“There’s more energy in the weight room,” junior linebacker Khaleke Hudson said a few weeks ago. “Everyone is happy to work out and just to be there — it’s a different feeling in there now. Personally, I feel stronger and faster. I also know more about my body now, like how I should be eating right, sleeping well and training the right way. I weigh 215 now, and played at 208 last season.
“Coach Herbert has us doing a lot of upper body stuff and new workouts we’d never even seen before. We all want to out lift each other and do more reps than the other guy. There’s a competition in there and it’s bringing out the best in all of us.”
Some have stood out, Herbert said.
“There are different guys that have different strengths,” Herbert said. “I think top to bottom if we were going to do 25 different things, I would have to say [sophomore fullback] Ben Mason is in there. There are some pound-for-pound guys … [redshirt sophomore end] Carlo Kemp is in there. [Junior end] Rashan [Gary] is one of those guys. [Sophomore center] Cesar Ruiz is pretty well balanced. That’s a 315-pound guy who can do 25 single-leg squats.
“[Sophomore linebacker] Josh Ross is another guy who does some pretty freaky things. Fortunately, there are enough guys who have some pretty special capabilities. It just depends on what you look at from an evaluation standpoint.”
Philosophically, Herbert said, he does his best to take a ‘comprehensive approach’ toward helping each individual athlete become who they are capable of being, and it comes down to making sure they understand the importance of fueling their body (“which most don't understand the importance that water and fluid plays, the importance that meal frequency plays, the role that sleep plays,” he said).
From a training standpoint, he added, it’s about tapping into their lower body, and there’s usually a lot of room to be tapped into.
“The largest muscles in the body are in the legs, and then their pulling movements — the upper back, the lower back,” he said. “Really the backside of their bodies are untapped when they come in from high school or other institutions, so from a development standpoint, we start there.
“The key is creating an environment that you want to give us your best and creating an environment that brings out the best in you, and ultimately you bring out the best in one another, but an environment you can thrive in — energetic and focused. It’s an environment that you like/love to be in.”
There were certain things he felt good about when he arrived and some he didn’t feel as good about. The key, he said, was to identify where their deficiencies were and how they’d address them, and they did that with each player in their baseline assessments.
“It’s just a matter of going to work,” he said. “In my opinion, one of my and my staff’s strengths is we’re able to develop a quick rapport, making sure guys understand what our goals are, and ultimately we want to create an environment that you guys are going to love being in. Our focus is to help you be the best you can be and do what it is you say you want to do.
“We always say understanding what you want to do is a lot different than what you’re willing to do. They start to understand how we conduct our business, how we communicate, how we coach, then like any relationship you start to bridge that gap quickly. We needed to do that, and I think we did do that.”
Earning their trust was important, and he reached out to one of the leaders — junior Devin Bush Jr. — immediately. He was anxious to let them know he was ready to work, and expected them to be ready, too.
“One of the points I wanted to make was, we have some time, but we don’t have time to waste. There was some soft tissue stuff and some different things outside of what he viewed was going to be done, and I was able to start developing that relationship. That was the key -- I didn’t want to wait to develop that rapport … I wanted to do it right out of the gate.”
Herbert and head coach Jim Harbaugh hit it off immediately, and the initial conversation was as natural and easy as he’d had with anyone, he said.
“I think philosophically how he views things and ultimately things he takes pride in and things he believes in are very in line with the things that I’ve been taught and learned to view as important over the years,” Herbert said. “It was a very smooth undertaking.
“The conversation was effortless. Once we had a chance to get in front of each other and spend some time face-to-face, it seemed like it was going to be a very good fit, and fortunately, it’s been just that.”
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