STARKVILLE — In the violent sport of college football, the Mississippi State University football training staff doesn’t think it is fighting a losing battle.
With proper nutrition, weight training, and education, the trainers feel the Bulldogs could have a healthy season.
For MSU strength coach Matt Balis, who has followed MSU football coach Dan Mullen throughout his stops at the University of Utah and the University of Florida, it’s a process of educating players on how to treat their bodies, how to fall, and how to practice without pads.
“It’s all about muscular balance in terms of hamstring to quad strength and making sure hamstrings are strong and trained right,” Balis said. “Then it goes to shoulder to back, making sure your posterior delts, your lats, your traps, are built up protecting their necks and heads. Finally, it’s about making sure our necks are trained properly.”
Balis goes about that training in his office in the new Leo Seal Football Complex. The football team’s new home features one of the Southeastern Conference’s largest and most sophisticated weight and training rooms.
“We just talk about giving back and being able to appreciate this facility, to treat it the right way, to take pride in it,” Balis said. “I think guys look at training in the new facility as kind of a neat deal. Day-in and day-out it’s an experience. It’s so big and it flows so well. It’s a great place to train. We’re always going to train hard and always going to get after it, but to have a place like this to train in is a great feeling of pride, too.”
As MSU continues through its spring drills, the only major injuries to significant contributors are to backup quarterback Dak Prescott (toe surgery) and backup tailback Nick Griffin (knee). Last week, Prescott sat in a stool and threw to wide receivers in skeleton drills to maintain chemistry and timing.
In the past three seasons under Mullen, MSU has been fortunate not to lose numerous contributors to injuries. Offensive lineman Tobias Smith, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament two years ago, is one of the few who has had a serious injury.
Smith, who has had four major surgeries at MSU, was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, but he is assessing his options before deciding if he will return to the team for the 2013 season.
“He’s going to be more in a coaching capacity in the spring with the offensive linemen than the playing capacity,” Mullen said. “The final decision on him won’t be made until the summer. I don’t anticipate him practicing, unless he just is out on the field and says, ‘Coach I’ve got to play, I want to get out there and do something.’ ”
For the junior college players who have arrived or for the freshmen in the 2013 recruiting class, part of Balis’ job is to start with the basics and to show the players the proper techniques to prevent injuries.
“The muscles around the joints are always a goal when you’re always trying to prevent knee injuries and ankle injuries,” Balis said. “We spent a lot of time training those muscles around those areas. Are there certain numbers you want to get to in terms of the weight room? No. However, people don’t know we have a plan of how we’re going to attack the training with balance, which we feel if done properly the guys should have a better time on the field of lasting.”
Most of the recruits swear by Balis’ training program because they didn’t have a concentrated weight training and strength program in high school.
“That’s the first thing you learn from day one at Mississippi State — that Balis’ deal is no joke,” MSU sophomore tailback Josh Robinson said. “I tell everybody new that comes in here that you can’t think you can coast through anything on him.”
Prospects also have to go through an adjustment period as they learn how to handle the high level of training and the daily treatment regimen they need to maintain their bodies for a season.
“When the head coach all the way down to position coaches is preaching that then the kids understand yeah, this is pretty important,” Balis said. “It’s a third training, it’s a third nutrition, it’s a third recovery. All those areas have to be hit on so the kids have the best chance to stay on the field.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.