How SDSU Football develops championship-caliber players

We have a saying at the South Dakota State University Football Program: “Committed. Invested. Developed.” It’s a declaration that we will work with full intention to make you the best version of yourself. As a developmental program, you must fully invest in the journey of it. This is an inside look at what that process looks like in the summer of our off-season training.

The Jackrabbits’ requirements for being an elite player are toughness, intelligence, twitch, playmaker, and x-factor. We hone in on the twitch and x-factor points. Twitch is the ability to direct and redirect, bend under speed, and move another man against his will. An x-factor makes people around you better and be oozing with confidence. These are things that we can create and cultivate with our time with the football players.

This training cycle we emphasize major themes of what we need to accomplish.

• Max Velocity
• Aggressive Decelerations
• COD into Agility Emphasis
• RFD in our Power Output
• Posture and Position
• Repeated Effort
• Key Performance Indicators

Now we can step into what a work week looks like for the Jacks football program.

Day 1: We found they’re not quite ready to be super aggressive on the field on a Monday, so we quit asking for it. We work on technical aspects of sprints and accelerations — falling and kneeling variations, plyo steps, and unilateral plyos. We put snatch and clean complexes on the menu. The whole squad does a two-second first pull (to hold proper posture) into a power snatch. The Skill/Big Skill (BS) guys will then go into a hang clean + Olympic. Show me your speed from a top-down position and then from a bottom-up spot. I want speed when it’s required. The BIGS will hit a block power clean into a double front squat. The suddenness of the power clean and then the posture of the squat is key. Next, we shift to mobility work. Pistol squat progressions for small guys and RFE splits squats for the BIGS. The BIGS will always spend more time moving bigger weights than our smaller guys.

Day 2: This is a huge competition day for us. When we challenge our guys and pit them against each other, it builds their competitiveness and their desire to succeed. Losing to your teammate is on par with failing a test — unacceptable. The fieldwork is dominated by a buildup of COD drills into agility-based competitions. Reaction/response drills and chasing/evading drills are our bread and butter here. Skill/BS will cover more ground and speed in their area, while the BIGS will hit more short-area battles. Contact prep is also put in here, especially as we get closer to camp.

The competing criteria continue under the bar. Minimum speed thresholds are put on our VBT (PERCH) and we move heavy bars under a squat and press variations. We lower the speed requirement as the summer goes along on our way to a de facto max session halfway through summer. We curtail it to find the safest number we can move with confidence and conviction. The magic is that every week we move the heaviest bar we can while following the speed minimum. Posterior chain work is heavy and often today. Skill/BS guys hammer single-leg hamstring work, BIGS get more intense bilateral work. Back and shoulder volume finish the day.

Day 3: Weak Link. It’s a low CNS Day. We need to throttle down for a day. We meet with the ATs and get more insight into where our individual weaknesses are. We were looking for “joint” specific spots and narrowed it down to four categories: hamstring, groin/hips, back/core, and shoulders. The whole house does their “Weak Link” protocol and neck training, then gets the heck out.

Day 4: The volume is low, but the intensity is at an all-time high. If you want speed, go work for it. Flying 10s and 20s with varying distances of buildup, large diameter arc sprints, leaning top-speed runs, and high-speed stops. We are teaching our guys how to leverage under top-gear sprints and how to lean properly when coming to a stop. Skill/BS guys go for big MPH as the BIGS do more of a resistance style (run rockets, sleds, and prowlers). The weight room work will follow the same themes. They need violence and precision. We won’t sacrifice technique for more weight. We challenge them with heavy loads on a BTN jerk and clean. Do what’s hard and what takes heightened focus. It’s a virtue we put at a high value—make something difficult look simple. Unilateral strength work accompanies today. Skill/BS do split stance trap bar deadlifts and the BIGS do one-arm reverse sled walks. Carries and weighted walks are huge for us today after a demanding CNS load. Vertical pulls and press for the squad to finish the day.

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Day 5: Effort fixes a lot of things. Today we train for it. We implement a conjugate-style dynamic effort day under the bar with our squats and presses. Can you hold speed and technique for four sets? What about six? Eight? Can you move it better as we go along? These are the demands of the day. The repeated effort sprint program is now a staple for the Jackrabbits on Fridays. It’s an interval sprint program that’s designed to simulate a football drive. Varying distances and rest times. Your effort will be put on display and judged by your peers. This is where our players decide who’s going to be a dude or not.

Great teams can bring exceptional effort for an entire game. The twitch is there in the fourth quarter like the first. The fight, horsepower, and drive needed to win football games in November and December are trained and honed in a humid indoor in June when all you have are your boys and a pile of grit. The Standard is built in the offseason.