ESPN College Football

As promised, the Big Ten workout warrior series is back. Piggybacking off of colleague Bruce Feldman's annual "Freaks" list, Bennett and I will profile four Big Ten players who go above and beyond in the weight room.

We solicited nominations from every Big Ten school, and while a portion chose to abstain this year -- there are quite a few new strength coaches in the league -- we received some good options. Let's get things started with the lone Big Ten player to make Feldman's 2011 "Freaks" list ...

Loud music helps and so do the encouraging voices of teammates, but Jay Prosch rarely needs extra motivation in the weight room.

From the moment he started getting serious about lifting, Prosch has felt right at home in the iron jungle.

"I pump myself up," the Illinois sophomore fullback said. "Weightlifting always excites me, when I know I'm about to do something I've never done."

Prosch had the feeling this past winter in the Illinois weight room after defensive lineman Akeem Spence set the team power clean record at 372 pounds.

While Prosch excelled at various lifts in high school, he never did the power clean until his arrival at Champaign. No matter. He reached 352 pounds "really easily" and then matched Spence's mark of 372. As Prosch prepared to attempt the record lift, Steve Sigler, an assistant strength and conditioning coach, asked him for a musical selection.

"They put on some Linkin Park, I got really excited and everybody kind of huddled around me," Prosch recalled. "And I got it."

Prosch reached 382 pounds, setting off a raucous celebration in the room.

"Everybody was jumping around," he said. "Everybody was really excited, coaches were really happy."

Spence, meanwhile, wasn't pleased about seeing his record fall so fast.

"I think he’s coming for me this year," Prosch said.

Prosch welcomes the challenge. He always has thrived on competition in the weight room.

He first started lifting as an eighth grader at UMS-Wright Prep in Mobile, Ala. He quickly identified an older football player who was a bit stronger, and set a goal of surpassing him. Prosch became serious about lifting in ninth grade and had "made a reputation" around the school by his junior year.

By the time he graduated, he held school records for bench-press (440 pounds), hang-clean (385) and incline press (335). His squat total of 595 pounds, meanwhile, came up 10 pounds shy of the top mark.

"It was really disappointing," Prosch said. "I was pretty upset about it."

Prosch is setting his sights on Illinois' lifting records.

Illinois measures max totals different than Prosch's high school, but his bench press has improved 60 pounds from last year. He also improved his squat total by 45 pounds, his hang clean total by 49 pounds and his power clean total by 30 pounds. Prosch is most proud of his gains with the hang clean and power clean.

"In the past, we have had two football players hang clean 396," Illinois head football strength coach Lou Hernandez said. "Jay absolutely killed 401 this winter as well. He constantly excites the room with his work."

Prosch's weight-room success is translating to the field. After playing guard and linebacker in high school, the lightly recruited Prosch emerged as a fullback for Illinois.

He played in every game as a true freshman and started six contests. He served as Mikel Leshoure's lead blocker and helped Illinois lead the Big Ten and rank 11th nationally in rushing offense (246.1 ypg).

"At my position, explosion's very important, being able to come off the line and get almost to my top speed when I hit the linebacker," Prosch said. "That's why power clean and hang clean are such important lifts for me."

Prosch had no rushing attempts and only one reception last year, but he could get more touches this season after being more involved as a ball carrier in spring practice.

The 6-foot Prosch has increased his weight from 245 to 255 at Illinois but reduced his body fat from 11 percent to nine percent, a number that should continue to drop during the season.

As preseason camp approaches next month, Prosch is a fixture in the weight room along with his workout partners Jason Ford and Zach Becker.

"Many times we find ourselves trying to slow him down," Hernandez said. "He is constantly trying to get better."

Prosch is so enamored with weight training that he wants to follow Hernandez's path after his playing days.

"I want to be a strength coach," he said. "That's really where I like to be."

Football strength training is the flavor this week on ESPN.com, as we attempt to pump ... you up! Sorry, couldn't resist.

Head coaches get most of the credit -- and, to be fair, most of the blame -- but strength coaches spend more time with players than anyone else on campus. They play major roles in developing personnel for the season.

So who are these guys? Here's a quick look at the Big Ten strength coaches.

ILLINOIS
Name: Lou Hernandez
At Illinois since: 2005
The skinny: Hernandez made the transition from Florida to Illinois with Fighting Illini head coach Ron Zook, for whom he has worked since 2003. A native Texan, Hernandez received both his bachelor's and master's from the University of Houston, where he worked from 1992-2001 as both an assistant strength coach and the head man. Hernandez spent 2002 as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the New York Jets. Despite being just 5-foot-8, Hernandez was a competitive power lifter who could bench 507 pounds and squat 720 in his heyday. He also consults Illinois players on nutrition and helped defensive end Will Davis add to his frame in 2008.

INDIANA
Name: Mark Wateska
At Indiana since: 2002
The skinny: Wateska has spent nearly a quarter century as a strength and conditioning coach, including the last eight seasons with the Hoosiers football program. He played football at Penn State and was part of the 1986 national championship team. Wateska received both his bachelor's degree and his master's degree in exercise and sports science from Penn State and started his career there. He eventually left for Boston College, where he served as an assistant strength coach for four years before he took his first head job at Maine. Before Indiana, Wateska spent seven years as Stanford's head strength and conditioning coach. After his first year at The Farm, Wateksa was named Pac-10 Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA).

IOWA
Name: Chris Doyle
At Iowa since: 1999
The skinny: Doyle has been in Iowa City for every step of the program's resurgence under Kirk Ferentz. He made his mark right away, earning Big Ten Strength Coach of the Year honors from the NCSA in 1999. Doyle has helped 149 players who have reached the professional ranks in the NFL, NHL and NBA, including 24 Iowa players selected in the last six NFL drafts. A native of Quincy, Mass., who earned two degrees at Boston University, Doyle came to Iowa after a year at Utah but was no stranger to the Big Ten. He served as Wisconsin's assistant strength and conditioning coach from 1996-98. Doyle worked both the football and hockey teams in Madison.

MICHIGAN
Name: Mike Barwis
At Michigan since: 2008
The skinny: Barwis followed Rich Rodriguez to Michigan after spending 14 years at West Virginia, where he worked with the school's Olympic sports programs before taking over strength and conditioning for football in 2003. Rodriguez is extremely loyal to Barwis and gives Barwis a lot of credit for the Mountaineers' rise to national prominence from 2005-07. Barwis has coached 24 NCSA All-Americans since 1999 and received the Bronze Award from the NCSA certification commission in 2004. A former mixed-martial arts fighter, Barwis' workout regimes at West Virginia became legendary, and the Philadelphia native has developed quite a reputation among Michigan players and fans.

MICHIGAN STATE
Name: Ken Mannie
At Michigan State since: 1994
The skinny: Mannie made the transition with Nick Saban from Toledo to Michigan State in 1994, but while Saban moved on, Mannie remained a fixture in East Lansing. He has received numerous awards and honors during his Michigan State tenure, including being named Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the NSCA in 2002 and being inducted into the Varsity S Club as an honorary member in 2007. Mannie, who oversees the strength and conditioning programs for all of Michigan State's sports, is a regular contributor to the Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director publication. He first met Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio at Ohio State, where they both served as graduate assistants in 1984.

MINNESOTA
Name: Mark Hill
At Minnesota since: 2007
The skinny: A 1999 graduate of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Hill already has worked as a high-level strength coach in the Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten. He joined Minnesota's staff in head coach Tim Brewster's first season after spending three years as associate director of performance enhancement at Arizona. Hill worked closely with Antoine Cason at Arizona, helping the defensive back win the Thorpe Award. He has mentored six All-Big Ten players at Minnesota and helped coach 13 All-Americans and 28 NFL draft picks as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Oklahoma from 2000-03. Hill was an All-Southern Conference wide receiver at Tennessee-Chattanooga.

NORTHWESTERN
Name: Larry Lilja
At Northwestern since: 1981
The skinny: Lilja is the dean of Big Ten strength coaches and counts current Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald among the many Wildcats players he tutored during his lengthy run in Evanston. He was a three-year starter at Northwestern from 1973-75, serving as a captain in 1974, before returning in 1981 to run the school's strength and conditioning center. Lilja played a major role in helping Northwestern transform its football program by winning Big Ten championships in 1995 and 1996. He earned Big Ten Conference Strength and Conditioning Professional of the Year honors in 1996. The Lilja family has deep roots in the Big Ten, as Larry and his brothers George (Michigan) and Dave (Indiana) are the only siblings in league history to serve as captains for three different teams.

OHIO STATE
Name: Eric Lichter
At Ohio State since: 2006
The skinny: Lichter built his reputation in the private sector by opening the Speed Strength Athlete Training Center in Euclid, Ohio, where he trained athletes in many sports, including Ohio State NFL draft prospects like Donte Whitner and Bobby Carpenter. He served as a consultant to Ohio State's 2002 national championship team and brought Power Plate technology to the program. Head coach Jim Tressel hired him in 2006 to oversee the strength and conditioning program. Lichter has trained six Top 10 NFL draft picks and has worked with LeBron James, Ron Dayne and others. His mother, Linda Lichter Witter, is Ohio State’s synchronized swimming coach, and Eric served as a consultant for the synchronized swimming team before joining Tressel's staff.

PENN STATE
Name: John Thomas
At Penn State since: 1992
The skinny: Like pretty much every member of Joe Paterno's staff, Thomas has been in State College for quite some time, making his mark on the Penn State program. In 2002, Thomas was named a Master of Strength and Conditioning Coach by the NSCA, one of only 27 people to carry the title at the time. He also was named National Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year in 1997. Thomas is a staunch supporter of the High Intensity Strength Training System (HIT), which early last decade created some discontent that has since subsided. Thomas came to Penn State from Army, where he served as head strength and conditioning coach in 1990-91. He played both offensive and defensive line at Muskingum College.

PURDUE
Name: Jim Lathrop
At Purdue since: 1998 (sixth year as director of strength and conditioning)
The skinny: Lathrop made the trek with Joe Tiller and Danny Hope from Wyoming to Purdue after being named the WAC's strength and conditioning coordinator professional of the year in 1996. He spent seven years as strength and conditioning coordinator before being promoted to oversee strength and conditioning for Purdue's entire athletic program. Lathrop designs specific training programs for football, wrestling, and men's and women's track. A former offensive guard for Northwest Missouri State, Lathrop served as both an assistant and a director of strength and conditioning at Georgia Tech from 1988-92. Georgia Tech won the 1990 national championship during his first year as director.

WISCONSIN
Name: Ben Herbert
At Wisconsin since: 2002 (named head strength and conditioning coach in January 2009)
The skinny: Herbert cut his teeth under longtime Wisconsin strength coach John Dettman before working his way into the top football job last winter. A two-year starter on the defensive line for the Badgers, Herbert helped Wisconsin reach back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1998 and 1999. He joined Wisconsin's strength and conditioning staff as an intern in 2002 before being promoted to an assistant the next year. Herbert shook things up after becoming the head strength coach, introducing position group workouts, innovative competitions and some unique motivational props, including a WWE replica belt and two potted plants.

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

Illinois left tackle Jeff Allen is no stranger to the two-point stance, the three-point stance and even the four-point stance.

The warrior stance took a bit more time to master.

Same with the tree pose and downward facing dog.

Allen and several of his Fighting Illini teammates learned those positions and many more during a series of yoga classes they took this summer. The weekly classes were designed to help Illinois players improve their flexibility, balance and core strength.

At times, yoga made two-a-days at Camp Rantoul seem like a day at the beach.

"I didn't know yoga was so tough," Allen said. 

This marked the second straight summer that Illinois incorporated yoga into its offseason conditioning program. Last year, Kia Locksley, the wife of former Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, introduced the yoga classes to a handful of players. 

The Locksleys have since left Illinois for the University of New Mexico, where Mike is now head coach, but the yoga classes continued under the direction of Peggy Prichard, a close friend of Kia Locksley's who taught yoga with her at a fitness center in Champaign. Prichard has taught group fitness for the last seven years and yoga for the last four.

Along with Illinois strength and conditioning coach Lou Hernandez, Prichard customized training sessions for the players.

"I tailored it toward what I thought they could do and their ability," Prichard said."They're obviously extremely muscular, extremely strong, and not extremely flexible at first. We worked on stretching out the hips, the quads, the glutes, working on some core, mainly balance and flexibility." 

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

	Scott Boehm/Getty Images
	Coaches wanted Will Davis to add about 15 pounds during the offseason.

RANTOUL, Ill. -- Warning: If you're on a diet, especially one of those lo-carb, no-fun deals, you might want to stop reading now.

Guys like Illinois senior defensive end Will Davis will make you depressed.

Some people can blink and gain a pound or two. Not Davis, who led Illinois and ranked fifth in the Big Ten with 9.5 sacks last season.

"They checked my body and found out that I lose about 2,000 calories in a day not doing anything," Davis said.

Illinois' coaches wanted Davis to add about 15 pounds during the offseason, but how they would overcome his mega metabolism was a mystery. Strength coach Lou Hernandez came up with a plan, one normal people shouldn't try at home.

"I was on a 6,000-calories-a-day diet," Davis said.

Come again? Six thousand calories?

Actually, when Hernandez crunched the numbers for Davis, he came up with 5,900 calories a day. What's an extra hundred? Might as well round up to a nice, fat figure -- 6,000.

Here's the real depressing part for the rest of us. Davis received a list of different foods and their corresponding calories, but his instructions for what to eat were fairly open-ended: lots of protein and limit the trans fats.

But pretty much everything was fair game.

"Because I lose weight so fast, I could eat really anything," Davis said. "I just went to the supermarket and just filled my refrigerator up with a bunch of steaks, just eating those every day.

"And also protein shakes. I was throwing ice cream in it and things like that, and that was hitting about 1,200 calories just in one shake. I was drinking those about three times a day, too, just straight out the blender."

So steaks and ice cream are the secrets to becoming an All-Big Ten defensive end?

"Yeah," Davis said, cracking up. "Definitely."

Several of Davis' teammates, including linebacker Brit Miller, spent the summer trying to drop weight, even holding a "Biggest Loser" competition to see who could trim down to 240 pounds first. But others saw the positive effects the high-calorie diet were having for Davis, who converted his extra pounds into muscle in the weight room.

A few Illini defensive backs even tried the Davis Diet.

"I don't know if they could get 6,000 calories in 'em," Davis said. "I don't think their stomachs are big enough."

Davis eventually got big enough, 264 pounds to be exact. Named to the Ted Hendricks Award preseason watch list, Davis anchors a defensive line that coach Ron Zook expects to be one of the team's strengths this fall.

Happy with his playing weight, Davis is no longer consuming 6,000 calories a day. It's more like 4,000 now.

"It was a lot of hard work," he said, "but I got there."

Hard work. Riiiiight.

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

CHICAGO -- It started out as a directive from the coaches but quickly turned into a spirited competition between Illinois players.

During the offseason, Illini strength coach Lou Hernandez instructed linebacker Brit Miller and several of his teammates to slim down to 240 pounds. Miller had swelled to 258 pounds following a foot injury and needed to drop weight before training camp. Inspired by the TV show "The Biggest Loser," Miller and the others initiated a competition to see who could reach 240 first. 

Other competitors included fullback Rahkeem Smith, linebacker Sam Carson III and wide receiver Greg McClendon. 

"Every day, there were weigh-in sessions, fighting weight," Miller said. "It kept the summer fun. We'd always try to get each other to go out to eat, and nobody would do it. They'd be like, 'Aw, I'm not going out to eat with you.' And there were guys trying to exercise at times when nobody would be in there. You'd catch guys doing some weird stuff."

So, who won?

"This guy right here, dude, the biggest loser," Miller said, raising his arms in victory. "I was the first to get to 240."

Miller's svelte frame will help him lead an Illini defense looking to replace All-American middle linebacker J Leman. After playing on the outside last year, Miller shifted over to the middle this spring. He recorded 62 tackles last year, a number that should increase in his new role. 

The weight loss could present a problem in training camp, as Miller tries to retain his title as the team's best belly-flopper. A little history: Illinois trains in Rantoul, Ill., a rural town located about 15 miles north of Champaign, and the team practices next to a water park. The players head there during the third week of workouts for the annual competition.  

"There's no trees or anything," Miller said. "It's us getting just murdered and mauled every day and then all these kids having a lot of fun at the pool 100 yards away. It's that tempting thing, like, 'Don't cross the gun line' from the movie 'Life.' That's the gun line for us right there. Somebody breaks, they're just gonna be swimming in their pads, like, 'I can't take it, coach.'"

Miller has won the belly-flop competition the last two years and is planning something special this year. 

"If done correctly, my back won't even get wet," he said. "Just hit the water and stay on the top."

Could his new lack of padding hurt his chances? 

"Dude, I can still throw it down," Miller said. "One time I lost like 35 pounds in college, on purpose, too, and I still had a belly. The belly goes nowhere, just everything else."