It's not a player.
It's not even a coach.
It's a program -- Nebraska's Sports Science program.
You don't think it's a big deal? Ask Chip Kelly. This is from Chris Brown's new book "The Art of Smart Football"...
Kelly’s secrecy over his team’s sports performance and recovery methods, however, points to his belief in the powerful competitive advantage that sports science provides. From top to bottom in the Eagles organization, the first rule of sports science seems to be “Don’t talk about sports science.”
When Kelly arrived in Philadelphia, the Eagles invested huge sums into their sports-science infrastructure, and Kelly hired Shaun Huls, a sports-science coordinator who’d worked for the Naval Special Warfare Command for nearly five years, training SEALs and focusing on reducing the incidence of their noncombat injuries. (Huls is a protégé of Boyd Epley, who founded one of the first and most successful strength and conditioning programs in football at the University of Nebraska.)
At least so far, it’s worked. In addition to their on-field success, the Eagles were also the least-injured team in the NFL in 2013 and the fifth least injured in 2014, according to Football Outsiders.
Just as important, the players think it works. “What happened with our players is all of a sudden when we started to get to game day every week, they were like, ‘Wow, I’ve never felt this good,’” said Kelly. “And I know every guy, to a man, in December— Todd Herremans, DeMeco Ryans, Trent Cole, guys who’ve been around a long time— said I’ve never felt this great in December.”
Brown, Chris B. (2015-07-14). The Art of Smart Football (Kindle Locations 1232-1235). SCBB Press. Kindle Edition.
It's not even a coach.
It's a program -- Nebraska's Sports Science program.
You don't think it's a big deal? Ask Chip Kelly. This is from Chris Brown's new book "The Art of Smart Football"...
Kelly’s secrecy over his team’s sports performance and recovery methods, however, points to his belief in the powerful competitive advantage that sports science provides. From top to bottom in the Eagles organization, the first rule of sports science seems to be “Don’t talk about sports science.”
When Kelly arrived in Philadelphia, the Eagles invested huge sums into their sports-science infrastructure, and Kelly hired Shaun Huls, a sports-science coordinator who’d worked for the Naval Special Warfare Command for nearly five years, training SEALs and focusing on reducing the incidence of their noncombat injuries. (Huls is a protégé of Boyd Epley, who founded one of the first and most successful strength and conditioning programs in football at the University of Nebraska.)
At least so far, it’s worked. In addition to their on-field success, the Eagles were also the least-injured team in the NFL in 2013 and the fifth least injured in 2014, according to Football Outsiders.
Just as important, the players think it works. “What happened with our players is all of a sudden when we started to get to game day every week, they were like, ‘Wow, I’ve never felt this good,’” said Kelly. “And I know every guy, to a man, in December— Todd Herremans, DeMeco Ryans, Trent Cole, guys who’ve been around a long time— said I’ve never felt this great in December.”
Brown, Chris B. (2015-07-14). The Art of Smart Football (Kindle Locations 1232-1235). SCBB Press. Kindle Edition.
