BRIAN ROLLE ON WHAT BOWL PREPARATION IS LIKE FOR OHIO STATE FOOTBALL PLAYERS
The regular season is always exciting for college football fans but nothing compares to the excitement and hype surrounding bowl season. Fans are scrambling to find low-priced flights and bargains on game tickets, with the opportunity to see the Buckeyes face a team they typically don't run into.
But one question always lingers in their minds: What's the the experience like for the players?
As a former player I'm sure I can speak for all players and say that the days or weeks leading up to a bowl game are fun and sometimes tiring. Playing under Jim Tressel, we had an old-school approach to bowl preparation: plenty of work, but ample time for the perks and social opportunities at the site.
Preparing to face the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl my junior season may be my most memorable bowl experience for a few reasons. I can still remember walking out onto the field for the first practice of bowl season and thinking that it was going to be like years prior where we would be on the field for about an hour just to get our legs loose, but the agenda was different this time.
As players filed out of the locker room the coaching staff was standing in the end zone and the field was all clear seemingly for practice to proceed, and then the whistle blew and we were instructed to make our way to the coaches. To our dismay – well, at least to my dismay – we had to run about 10 100-yard sprints before practice even began.
This routine continued for the majority of the practices we held in Columbus up until our five-day Christmas break, where we were given the opportunity to head home and unwind with our families before “The Bowl Grind” started in earnest.
Players would fly to the bowl site – in this case, Pasadena – and the real work would begin. Practice on site for the Rose Bowl was like other years: 8:30 a.m. sessions that consisted of nothing but offense and defense going against scout teams simulating the opposing team's schemes. Bowl practices can be a little more laid back than regular season practices, but make no mistake about it, they were still intense.
Entire article:
http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...ation-is-like-for-ohio-state-football-players
