Football's Freaks
September 09, 2017 | Football, Andy Baggot, Varsity Magazine
Insane lifts. Crazy jumps. Extreme speed. And it comes together on the field for Badgers success.
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — In a quiet, Spartan, ground-floor office at the north end of Camp Randall Stadium, Ross Kolodziej is staring at a computer screen, spitting out superlatives.
"Crazy numbers."
Scroll. Pause. Peer.
"Pretty freaky."
Scroll. Pause. Peer.
"Pretty special."
Kolodziej, the third-year strength and conditioning coach for the Wisconsin football team, is intently crosschecking data on his 100-plus charges.
The spreadsheet includes markers for strength: clean lifts, bench presses, squats.
There are tests for movement: broad jumps, vertical jumps, 10-yard dashes, pro agility.
Kolodziej, a former defensive lineman for the Badgers who played seven seasons in the NFL, starts rattling off the names of players that have impressed him one way or another this year, either through improvement or sheer athleticism. He stops just shy of 30 while implying there are more.
"There's so many guys that stand out," he said. "It's a good thing."
Except that Kolodziej has been asked to identify the freaks of his weight room, the guys, pound-for-pound, who are blessed with the most unusual mix of size, power and maneuverability. His list, which includes a 198-pound defensive back and a 328-pound offensive lineman, fits on one hand.
"Not only are they great weight room, pound-for-pound guys, it translates to all their drills and all their jumps," Kolodziej said.
Senior free safety Natrell Jamerson tops the list thanks in part to a ridiculous 405-pound bench press. That's more than twice his listed weight of 198 on a 6-foot frame.
Video of the effort created all sorts of buzz on the Internet when it debuted this summer.
4??0??5??lbs ?? Ok, @Trellionn12... ??
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) July 17, 2017
"It's always nice to have some acknowledgement," said the soft-spoken Jamerson, a first-year starter in 2017. "I appreciate it."
The reaction of eyewitnesses to the moment was boisterous to say the least. Jamerson's teammates roared.
"The energy when he hit it, everyone celebrated with him," junior left tackle Michael Deiter said. "That's kind of the way the weight room goes. You need your friends around you, but it's up to you to get lifts like that.
Jamerson also has turned in a 307.5-pound clean and 555-pound squat. He's run a 1.47-second 10-yard dash – anything under 1.50 is exceptional – and a 4.01-second pro agility. His standing broad jump measures 10 feet, 4½ inches and his vertical leap is 37 inches, which is one of the best readings on the team.
According to Kolodziej, Jamerson added 50 pounds to his squat, 25 pounds to his bench and 17 1/2 pounds to his clean going into his senior summer, all while improving his body composition and maintaining his speed.
"A superior kind of freak show," Kolodziej said approvingly.
A small smile crept across Jamerson's face when asked about his place atop Kolodziej's list.
"It means a lot," he said. "I'm doing more than most."
Jamerson's running mate on the back end of the UW secondary is senior strong safety D'Cota Dixon, whose 5-10, 204-pound frame can generate a lot of awe.
Dixon is on the list because he's recorded a 390-pound bench, 330-pound clean and 515-pound squat. His 10-yard dash time is 1.56 seconds and his pro agility time is 3.95 seconds. His broad jump measures 10-3 1/2 and his vertical is 37 inches.
"I just look at it as trying to get better," Dixon said of his place on the freak list. "I'm not into comparisons all that much."
Yet moments later, Dixon, a captain in his second season as a starter, maintains that Jamerson is the strongest man on the team pound-for-pound – "I don't think there's a lot of questions about that," he said – but that senior outside linebacker Leon Jacobs is right there with Jamerson.
"Leon is an army of his own," Dixon said. "Leon is ridiculous. He's in his own category. He and Natrell."
OLB ?? ILB ?? FB ?? ILB ?? OLB Leon Jacobs has played many positions, but his approach hasn't changed.
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 1, 2017
Kolodziej said Jacobs, a chiseled 6-2, 245-pound outside linebacker, "would surpass Natrell" if he had better technique in the clean lift.
As it stands, Jacobs checks in with a 435-pound bench and 655-pound squat, runs the 10-yard dash in 1.51 seconds, the pro agility in 4.28 seconds, broad jumps 10-4 1/2 and has a vertical of 34 1/2 inches.
Jacobs said Kolodziej has the top-10 efforts for each lift scrolling on the video screens in the weight room. It's known as motivation.
"You want to be on that list," Jacobs said. "It pushes you, right? You think, 'I want to do it.'"
But Jacobs isn't impressed with his place on the freak list.
"It only means something if you accomplish something on the football field," he said.
Deiter, another captain, is the fourth member of the freak list. He's 6-6 and 328 pounds, but has a 30-inch vertical jump, a 9-foot broad jump and runs the 10-yard dash in 1.79 seconds. He also cleans 355 pounds, benches 380 and squats 645.
"I just do the best that I can and it seems to be good enough," he said.
Deiter said being in the UW weight room when the intensity is at its peak is like being in the middle of a game.
"For me, the weight room was already a ton of fun and then when you get all these athletes in there lifting and the music's up and everyone's trying to hit PRs, I think it's as fun as winning a football game at Camp Randall," he said.
That was the atmosphere when Jamerson benched 405.
"It was crazy, about the equivalent of him making a big play in a game," Deiter said. "You knew he had it in him, but he needed the guys around him to bring it out."
Jamerson said he and his teammates have a responsibility every time they step into the weight room.
"As soon as you walk in, you have to have that energy," he said. "If you're lacking energy or don't want to be there, that's contagious and it affects the whole group."
As Dixon put it, "If you have not woken up by the time you come to the weight room, you're going to be woken up by the time you leave."
Kolodziej said there's a fairly large tier of players situated right behind the freaks. Some are 200-pound guys that squat around 500, bench in the mid-300s and clean in the vicinity of 300 pounds. Some are bigger guys, offensive and defensive linemen, who squat close to 600, bench 400-plus and clean over 300.
Kolodziej mentioned that sophomore tailback Bradrick Shaw, listed at 6-1 and 220, benches 375, is an 11-foot broad jumper – the best on the team – and has a vertical of 37 inches.
"Pretty freaky for a guy his size," Kolodziej said
Senior wide receiver Jazz Peavy, listed at 6-foot and 189, has a 34-inch vertical and a 10-foot broad jump to go along with 4.47-second speed in the 40-yard dash.
"When he opens it up, he can really run," Kolodziej said.
Junior inside linebacker Ryan Connelly, listed at 6-3 and 228 pounds, has a 37 1/2-inch vertical and runs the 40 in 4.6 seconds.
"He will be impressive when he tests on (NFL) pro day (in the spring)," Kolodziej said.
According to Kolodziej, sophomore wide receiver Kendric Pryor is the fastest player on the team based on his miles-per-hour reading of 23 mph via the GPS units the Badgers wear during practice.
It's not a coincidence that the four freaks are upperclassmen.
"What's impressive is you see an older guy make big gains because you know now he's doing all the little things outside the weight room," Kolodziej said. "It's not like it's some super-secret recipe for success. If you train hard, but you live just as hard outside the room, you're not going to have great results.
"When you see guys like that, who buy in and take care of their bodies and have the great results, it's fun. It's great because it's a kind of a self-feeding cycle. Once a guy gets hooked on that it's like, 'Man, this works.'"
Deiter said his fellow freaks have something in common.
"Just watching those guys, you can see the intensity that all those guys work with," he said. "It's no secret they can do what they do because their focus is into that. It's that lift. It's that run.
"It's why we can be a successful program, because the work we do in there translates to the field so well."
Being stronger, faster and fitter than the guy lining up across from you translates to the ultimate advantage.
"There's always someone bigger and badder than you," Jamerson said, "but as long as you have that confidence, you can go out there and do whatever you put your mind to."
