Senior forward Colin Castleton does the Yoke Walk during a summer "Strongman" training session.
Harry Fodder: Training Days
Tuesday, August 24, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It doesn't take much context to understand where the Florida basketball team is now versus a year ago coming out of an offseason lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. When it came time for the Gators to report back to campus in 2020, whatever physical shape the players were in depended on how strictly they adhered to their assigned remote workouts, combined with what they did on their own.
"Having a team without an offseason is like trying to light a wet firecracker," UF strength and conditioning coordinator Preston Greene said. "It's not going to be very powerful."
And because the players had not spent the previous months building up strength, whatever training they were cleared to do in the truncated offseason/preseason, obviously, was next-to-nothing compared to what Greene and his staff would have put them through under normal circumstances.
— Florida Gators Men's Basketball (@GatorsMBK) July 2, 2021
The situation, of course, was not unique to the Gators. On the contrary, the COVID hardships and multiple transfers played out across the country. Lifting weights and building muscle mass, though, has been a way of summer life the last decade here, so it was a welcomed sight during summer "A" and "B" sessions to see players pushing iron in the weight room and making gains (or in the case of junior center Jason Jitoboh, making gains and losses).
Some other examples:
* Guard Brandon McKissic, the transfer from Missouri-Kansas City, came to town weighing 185 pounds. He's now 205.
* Sophomore guard Niels Lane, who played sparingly as a reserve last season, front-squatted 185 last season and power-cleaned 175. Those numbers are now 255 and 242, respectively.
* Point guard Tyree Appleby gained 12 pounds of lean mass, increased his bench press from 165 to 185 and added 70 pounds to his front squat (155 to 225).
* Graduate forward Anthony Duruji, now probably the most athletic players on the team, improved his power clean from 185 to 246.5.
Missouri-Kansas City transfer guard Brandon McKissic (June vs August)
Fifth-year senior point guard Tyree Appleby(June 2019 vs August 2021)
Charleston Southern transfer guard Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (June 2021 vs August)
Sophomore guard Niels Lane (Summer 2020 vs Summer 2021)
Remember, with June came the arrival of four Division-1 transfers for Summer "A," all of them at least 21 years old (two fifth-year seniors, one fourth-year senior, one junior), each of whom was well into their physical development. In their previous stops, they did it a certain now.
They got a quick indoctrination into the Florida way.
"Doesn't matter if they're 18 or 22, they still have to go through progressions and correct their deficiencies," Greene said. "The only difference is they can potentially progress faster than untrained freshman. Regardless, when you introduce tempo in, it throws all training age numbers out the window."
That won't be the case for the team's new August additions, freshman guard Elijah Kennedy and 6-9, 175-pound junior-college transfer Tuongthach Gatkek (yes, 1-7-5), who are about to undergo the training shocks of their lives before barely getting a chance to see their dorm rooms. But that's another story.
Anyway, Kennedy and Gatkek made it just in time to join their teammates for the serious conditioning phase.
Starting Wednesday, the Gators will be on the floor at 6:30 a.m. to begin gauging their speed and cardio. They'll do five 300-yard shuttle runs (that's 10 lengths of the court). Guards have to finish in 60 seconds, "bigs" in 62, with two minutes of rest in between. How well the team does collectively will determine how much they'll run over the next five weeks, as the start of official preseason practices inches closer.
In the interim, the running, plus the four lifts and two practices per week, along with individual skill sessions, will set the table for that first full-blown practice on Sept. 28.
Florida opens the 2021-22 season at home Nov. 9 against Elon.
