The slimmed-down appearance of Nebraska offensive lineman Matt Slauson and defensive end Barry Turner at this week's Big 12 Conference football media days served notice that there have been some philosophical changes in regard to the Cornhuskers' strength and conditioning program.
Under the direction of new head football strength coach James Dobson, hired by first-year Nebraska coach Bo Pelini in January, the Cornhuskers are apparently working for a leaner, more athletic look this fall. Pelini said Slauson and Turner are among several players who have dropped some pounds.
"We're trying to make them as athletic as we possibly can and develop them as well as we possibly can and that just happened," Pelini said. "I think if you look at our team as a whole and they've all lost a significant amount of weight."
Slauson is listed in the Nebraska media guide at 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, but hinted he could be less than that, noting that he now has a 40-inch waist. Turner is listed at 265 pounds, which is 10 pounds less than he played at a year ago.
"I think, overall, at some point everybody has just been getting learner and getting their body mass down," Turner said. "We're all trying to get more physically fit and everybody has taken that challenge -- everybody."
Turner said he didn't necessarily feel like he was too heavy or had lost speed last year working under former strength coach Dave Kennedy -- now at Texas A&M -- but said he's noticed a difference since starting Dobson's program.
"Coming in as a freshman and not knowing (any different), I thought we had the greatest weight-lifting program ever," Turner said. "I didn't know what I was missing out on until I had the change."
Middle linebacker Phillip Dillard has perhaps made the most drastic change to his body. Last year, he played at 265, but has dropped 30 pounds and is expected to be at 235 heading into the start of fall practice on Aug. 4.
"That's what we were looking for," Pelini said. "I'm not exactly sure if they wanted (Dillard) at 265, but to a certain extent, it's all part of evaluating where they're going to play for us and what we're looking for them to do in our scheme and developing them into that."
Pelini said all credit goes to Dobson and the Husker players.
"They're working their butts off," Pelini said. "If they continue to do that, it will pay dividends in the end, but I really like the type of attitude and the type of work our kids have put in up to this point."
Slauson said the style of Nebraska's workouts have changed drastically.
"Everything is quick, explosion things," Slauson said. "It isn't the eight sets of 10 on squats. Everything is high-intensity, short bursts of power and strength.
"In our offseason workouts, we're really focusing on strength and power aggressiveness, so it's really easy to see the direction we're going in."
That direction?
"I really see (Pelini) getting on us about the physical aspect come fall," Slauson said.
