USC feeling the benefits of new off-season regimens
Adam Grosbard, Los Angeles Daily News - Yesterday 10:48 PM
USC feeling the benefits of new off-season regimens (msn.com)
LOS ANGELES — As USC players took turns sitting around fold-out tables at media day last week, each one seemed to have their own off-season accomplishments to brag about.
“I lost six pounds of fat, gained five pounds of muscle,” center Brett Neilon reported.
“I was at like 10 [percent body fat] last year,” rush end Korey Foreman said. “Now I’m going into five.” The man at the center of these developments and the off-season regimen for USC is strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie.
Wylie was always a key part of head coach Lincoln Riley’s vision for USC. After spending four seasons together at Oklahoma, Wylie literally joined Riley on the private plane from Norman to Los Angeles without a contract, ready to leave his mark on the Trojans’ new era.
After spending January and February readying the roster for spring camp, Wylie prepared off-season regimens for the roster. In addition to the traditional weight and conditioning work, Wylie had the Trojans doing sprinting and cutting and hand-to-hand combat that players likened to wrestling.
Quickly, Wylie and his team of staffers have earned the trust of the USC locker room.
“The strength staff’s elite and they’re professional,” Neilon said. “A lot of us got bigger, stronger and faster. The numbers and the outcomes are there. … [Wylie] trains us like professional athletes and he takes care of guys, too...