[DC 86]

Goose, I think your example of strength metric is not a great proxy for on-field performance.  First, reps in a weight room don't always translate to "functional strength" or explosiveness.  Isolating muscle groups for magnitude and reps is great for bodybuilding, but I think Turley and many other high-level coaches have moved on to full-body motions and then isolating and improving weak links in a player's kinetic chain.  I seem to recall players not acing the Combine workouts and yet turning in effective careers.  Conversely, there have been many Combine studs who didn't pan out on the field.

+1. The job of the S&C coach is to maximize football performance, not win weightlifting contests. McCaffrey turned in a pitiful lifting performance at the combine but was healthy and explosive at Stanford. Post-Turley overall health and performance have declined, but of course it's impossible to quantify what portion of that can be ascribed to S&C and what portion is the result of other factors. Anecdotally it seems that Turley's departure was a loss for Stanford and that the S&C area of the football program is one where there's room for improvement, but there's no way to prove this.

[DC 86]

Goose, I think your example of strength metric is not a great proxy for on-field performance.  First, reps in a weight room don't always translate to "functional strength" or explosiveness.  Isolating muscle groups for magnitude and reps is great for bodybuilding, but I think Turley and many other high-level coaches have moved on to full-body motions and then isolating and improving weak links in a player's kinetic chain.  I seem to recall players not acing the Combine workouts and yet turning in effective careers.  Conversely, there have been many Combine studs who didn't pan out on the field.

+1. The job of the S&C coach is to maximize football performance, not win weightlifting contests. McCaffrey turned in a pitiful lifting performance at the combine but was healthy and explosive at Stanford. Post-Turley overall health and performance have declined, but of course it's impossible to quantify what portion of that can be ascribed to S&C and what portion is the result of other factors. Anecdotally it seems that Turley's departure was a loss for Stanford and that the S&C area of the football program is one where there's room for improvement, but there's no way to prove this.