BOOMERBRADLEY
6/25/2006, 11:01 AM
http://www.newsok.com/article/1878086/?template=sports/ou
NORMAN - Dressed in a navy blue T-shirt, black mesh shorts and a pair of OU sandals, Gerald McCoy slowly lumbered around the east corner of Owen Field.
It’s 2 p.m., and the Sooners’ brightest young football star looked like a zombie.
“I’m tired. I need to take a nap,” he said, slowly bending at the waist to take a seat. The wooden park bench creaked under his 290-pound frame.
“There are some parts of your body that you’ve never used until now.”
McCoy is one of three incoming Sooners participating in voluntary two-a-days with strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt.
And for the very first time, he’s learned what it’s really like to feel the burn.
“It’s a lot harder than high school,” McCoy said. “In high school, you breeze through workouts. They only hurt a little bit. But in college, it’s not just one workout where you can just breeze through. It’s all hard. Everything you do. Sometimes the warm-ups are even hard.”
This time last year, McCoy was spending his summer vacation the way any teenager would.
Going on family trips. Finding a summer job. Staying up late and waking up late.
He was one of the top defensive recruits in the country, going into his senior year at Southeast High in Oklahoma City. But he was also a typical teen.
“He worked out, but we wouldn’t let him get too bogged down,” said McCoy’s father, Keith McCoy. “It was important for him to relax during the summer. Like a normal kid.”
What a difference one year made.
In February, McCoy became the biggest name - and one of the biggest bodies - to sign with Oklahoma. At the time, recruiting experts projected the 6-foot-5 defensive tackle would make an immediate impact with the Sooners come August.
They were wrong.
The prediction was two months late.
McCoy moved to Norman in early June. And he’s spent nearly every minute of his precious summer vacation working to make good on that potential.
“I wake up every morning at 7 a.m. Gotta’ be at workouts by 8,” McCoy said, recounting his daily routine. “I show up at 7:30, because they like us to be early. I’m eating breakfast by 8:45. History of Jazz at 10:30. Then lunch. Then, I’ve got to work out again at 4:15 p.m.”
Add study hall three nights a week, plus a variety of meetings on Tuesday and McCoy can hardly find time to relax.
“I say stay pretty busy,” he said. “No free time at all, except to sleep.”
Players aren’t required to report until the first day of practice - Aug. 4 - but McCoy said he would do anything for the opportunity to earn playing time this fall.
“The first day I was here, they said, ‘If you want to play, then you better be working hard,’” McCoy said. “I love working hard, so going two times a day doesn’t bother me. I prefer to go two times a day, because I actually do want to play next year and I want to get better.”
During the morning workouts, McCoy will join fellow freshman Adrian Taylor and junior college transfer Brandon Walker to work on position skills. Handwork, footwork, abs, stamina. In the afternoon, they will lift weights, run and do agility drills.
Day after day. Repetition after repetition. It’s a grueling regimen.
And McCoy has loved every bit of it.
“Jerry Schmidt is a very smart guy,” McCoy said. “When it comes to building the perfect athlete, it doesn’t get any better than him. He comes up with some stuff that works muscles you didn’t even know you had.
“I love it. I’m going to do this all summer.”
McCoy’s enthusiasm toward hard work hasn’t surprised Rivals.com recruiting guru Jeremy Crabtree, who followed McCoy throughout his senior season.
“Gerald is very different. Very special,” Crabtree said. “He works harder than a lot of kids out there. That’s why he’ll be one of the best defensive tackles in the country. He combines the right attitude with terrific work ethic and tremendous talent. He’s the total package.”
Southeast football coach Mike Branch said he could see McCoy’s strict workout discipline coming. McCoy made hard work the standard for four years with the Spartans.
“He worked hard the whole time he was in high school, even when nobody else was looking,” Branch said. “He never took a day off. In fact, I had to make him take a couple of days off before he went and played in the Army All-America game.”
It was during the Army game - an annual contest in San Antonio that features the nation’s top senior football stars - when McCoy made the biggest impression with collegiate scouts. After a dominating defensive performance, other powerhouse programs began knocking on his door. McCoy eluded the Sooners’ call for several weeks before settling on Oklahoma.
But when he finally did commit, he committed everything. Time. Energy. Body and mind.
“When I signed, they told me my life would never be the same,” McCoy said. “They were right.”
NORMAN - Dressed in a navy blue T-shirt, black mesh shorts and a pair of OU sandals, Gerald McCoy slowly lumbered around the east corner of Owen Field.
It’s 2 p.m., and the Sooners’ brightest young football star looked like a zombie.
“I’m tired. I need to take a nap,” he said, slowly bending at the waist to take a seat. The wooden park bench creaked under his 290-pound frame.
“There are some parts of your body that you’ve never used until now.”
McCoy is one of three incoming Sooners participating in voluntary two-a-days with strength and conditioning coach Jerry Schmidt.
And for the very first time, he’s learned what it’s really like to feel the burn.
“It’s a lot harder than high school,” McCoy said. “In high school, you breeze through workouts. They only hurt a little bit. But in college, it’s not just one workout where you can just breeze through. It’s all hard. Everything you do. Sometimes the warm-ups are even hard.”
This time last year, McCoy was spending his summer vacation the way any teenager would.
Going on family trips. Finding a summer job. Staying up late and waking up late.
He was one of the top defensive recruits in the country, going into his senior year at Southeast High in Oklahoma City. But he was also a typical teen.
“He worked out, but we wouldn’t let him get too bogged down,” said McCoy’s father, Keith McCoy. “It was important for him to relax during the summer. Like a normal kid.”
What a difference one year made.
In February, McCoy became the biggest name - and one of the biggest bodies - to sign with Oklahoma. At the time, recruiting experts projected the 6-foot-5 defensive tackle would make an immediate impact with the Sooners come August.
They were wrong.
The prediction was two months late.
McCoy moved to Norman in early June. And he’s spent nearly every minute of his precious summer vacation working to make good on that potential.
“I wake up every morning at 7 a.m. Gotta’ be at workouts by 8,” McCoy said, recounting his daily routine. “I show up at 7:30, because they like us to be early. I’m eating breakfast by 8:45. History of Jazz at 10:30. Then lunch. Then, I’ve got to work out again at 4:15 p.m.”
Add study hall three nights a week, plus a variety of meetings on Tuesday and McCoy can hardly find time to relax.
“I say stay pretty busy,” he said. “No free time at all, except to sleep.”
Players aren’t required to report until the first day of practice - Aug. 4 - but McCoy said he would do anything for the opportunity to earn playing time this fall.
“The first day I was here, they said, ‘If you want to play, then you better be working hard,’” McCoy said. “I love working hard, so going two times a day doesn’t bother me. I prefer to go two times a day, because I actually do want to play next year and I want to get better.”
During the morning workouts, McCoy will join fellow freshman Adrian Taylor and junior college transfer Brandon Walker to work on position skills. Handwork, footwork, abs, stamina. In the afternoon, they will lift weights, run and do agility drills.
Day after day. Repetition after repetition. It’s a grueling regimen.
And McCoy has loved every bit of it.
“Jerry Schmidt is a very smart guy,” McCoy said. “When it comes to building the perfect athlete, it doesn’t get any better than him. He comes up with some stuff that works muscles you didn’t even know you had.
“I love it. I’m going to do this all summer.”
McCoy’s enthusiasm toward hard work hasn’t surprised Rivals.com recruiting guru Jeremy Crabtree, who followed McCoy throughout his senior season.
“Gerald is very different. Very special,” Crabtree said. “He works harder than a lot of kids out there. That’s why he’ll be one of the best defensive tackles in the country. He combines the right attitude with terrific work ethic and tremendous talent. He’s the total package.”
Southeast football coach Mike Branch said he could see McCoy’s strict workout discipline coming. McCoy made hard work the standard for four years with the Spartans.
“He worked hard the whole time he was in high school, even when nobody else was looking,” Branch said. “He never took a day off. In fact, I had to make him take a couple of days off before he went and played in the Army All-America game.”
It was during the Army game - an annual contest in San Antonio that features the nation’s top senior football stars - when McCoy made the biggest impression with collegiate scouts. After a dominating defensive performance, other powerhouse programs began knocking on his door. McCoy eluded the Sooners’ call for several weeks before settling on Oklahoma.
But when he finally did commit, he committed everything. Time. Energy. Body and mind.
“When I signed, they told me my life would never be the same,” McCoy said. “They were right.”