BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — With the weight room as his backdrop, his canvas, Wisconsin football's strength and conditioning coach Ross Kolodziej is adept at painting word pictures to bring clarity to a topic, especially one that has a bearing on the physical development of an athlete.
In responding to a question about the need and value of teaching nutrition, Kolodziej said, "It's kind of like saying, 'Where does fuel fit into your mode of transportation to get you to where you need to go?' It's an essential component, but often neglected and very much overlooked."
Kolodziej listed three points of emphasis: Nutrition, sleep, recovery.
"We only have two hours to train them in a day and they have another 22 hours when they're out and about," he said. "What they do and how they treat their bodies for those 22 hours is going to dictate how they respond to that two-hour training session."
To track how players fuel, rest and recover, the Badgers have expanded their data collecting in different areas. RPE is an acronym for Relative Perceived Exertion. And it's relative to just about any conversation that you might have with Kolodziej in his workplace at Camp Randall Stadium.
Under Armour has assisted in this process with the UA Band, an activity tracker wristband.
UW Strength & Conditioning Coach Ross Kolodziej
"We're not trying to be Big Brother with these guys," said Kolodziej, a former defensive tackle for the Badgers (1997-2000). "We're just trying to give them the dashboard — just like the one in your car. Where's your fuel tank at? What's your oil pressure? What is your engine temperature?
"If you're in the red, you're going to throw a rod here shortly if you're not taking care of yourself. The more they can understand that their body is their blade, the more success we can have."
Another word picture. The mandate from the coaching staff would be to sharpen that blade. "For some of these guys, they don't even have a blade yet," he said of the newcomers, principally the incoming freshmen. "They're still a hunk of steel that needs to be filed down and sharpened."
For others, the more experienced players, the veterans of two and three years as starters, he noted, "They've started to put a pretty fine edge on that blade. So now it's not so much about grinding that steel as it is about polishing it."
Kolodziej is in the midst of acclimating seven freshmen, early enrollees, mid-term high school graduates, to what is expected from them during the winter conditioning phase that is well under way. Each year, the numbers vary — and this is the largest group the program has seen — but the narrative stays the same.
"You have to meet them where they're at physically — each guy is going to be at a different point coming in — and there's no magic fix," Kolodziej said. "You may have guys who are going to be ready to play. They're mobile in strength and agility and all those are ready to go.
"And, then, you may have guys who have never seen a weight room before (at least to the magnitude of facilities at this level of competition). The important thing is, they're here, they're hungry to go and they're willing to listen and work. At this point that's all you can ask for.
"There are a lot of great resources here to smooth that transition, so it shouldn't be a scary or frightening experience. Depending on their background and what classes they took in high school, it will all factor into the initial transition. There's an acclimation period that every freshman goes through."
Kolodziej pointed out that freshmen wide receivers Quintez Cephus and A.J. Taylor, linebacker Griffin Grady, safety Patrick Johnson and nose tackle Garrett Rand were contributors and letterwiners in 2016. But none of them enrolled early. Playing right away is not the only objective, of course.
"I think the early enrollment might help you get a jump academically more than anything — if you come in with the right mindset, it pays dividends down the road," said Kolodziej, who believes the summer conditioning phase is more influential in terms of athletic preparation for fall training camp.
"It's just a tall order for any kid who technically still should be in high school," he conceded of the early enrollee trend. "But what really helps here is the locker room that we have and the upper classmen who do a great job of taking these guys under their wing and showing them how it's done."
Offensive line continues growth
When Kolodziej surveys the offensive linemen in his room today, it's a much different picture from what he had three years ago. "It's a huge asset for us now," he said, listing Michael Deiter, Beau Beanzschawel, Jon Dietzen, David Edwards, Jacob Maxwell, Micah Kapoi and Brett Connors. "Now, it's like, 'Wow, you've got a quality starter that might not be on the field.'"
And that's despite the departure of Ryan Ramczyk, an All-American left tackle. Kolodziej also factored three redshirt freshmen into the equation: Tyler Biadasz, Patrick Kasl and Cole Van Lanen. "Even though we've come a long way," Kolodziej cautioned, "we still have a long way to go."
For some of the returning linemen, he suggested the potential for a shift in focus. "Now that they're squatting over 600 and benching over 400, maybe it's not so much a max-strength focus," he said. "Maybe it's more power, or for some of those guys, it's specificity and skill.
"The biggest thing when you can be a developmental program, you don't have to rely on guys early in their years to play. They can develop physically and get to the point when they step on the field, the physical is not going to be a question. It's going to be purely skill development.
"That's where it's starting to get exciting with that older group. But we still have a great deal of younger guys that need to focus on fundamentals of movement, strength, flexibility and things like that. As Coach always says, 'Sharpen the blade.'"
Williams joins strength staff
Kolodziej also has a new blade sharpener on staff: Shaud Williams, who played tailback at Texas Tech and Alabama. In 2003, Williams had 289 rushes for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Tide. An undrafted free agent, the 5-foot-7, 193-pound Williams played in 25 games over four years with the Buffalo Bills.
The 36-year-old Williams is a member of the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. A native of Andrews, Texas — a city of 11,000 population in West Texas, 33 miles from Odessa — he rushed for 7,712 yards as a prep. Williams later went back to his high school to serve as its strength coach.
There are some Wisconsin ties. Williams was a teammate in Buffalo with secondary coach Jim Leonhard. He was also a teammate of former UW quarterback Brooks Bollinger with the Florida Tuckers of the United Football League. Obviously, he brings a different frame of reference to the weight room.
"But he brings a similar mindset," Kolodziej said of Williams. "He will be invaluable to us on the floor with the guys building rapport and having the ability to speak the same language. Hopefully they can draw from a different guy who's had great success with the same work ethic."
