Summer sweat on Cal campus

Bears football players growing under Krasinski
Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 5, 2005
John Krasinski, a bear of a man who is capable of leading by example, has no trouble illustrating the value of his summers of hard work.
He can point to Matt Giordano, a once unheralded football player at Cal who finished his senior season last year as an All-Pac-10 safety and a fourth- round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts.
"Every time we'd sprint he'd try to be the first," said Krasinski, Cal's strength and conditioning coach -- the only coach allowed regular offseason contact with players. "Every time we'd lift (weights), he'd try and go up over his last workout. He was always trying to better his mark. I think he made himself a great athlete and a great NFL player."
Players will report for training camp on Sunday. Many will post improved times in the 40-yard dash. Many will have added layers of lean muscle. And they all will have gone a long way toward forming the bonds that will carry them through the season. It's all been done quietly in Memorial Stadium on otherwise lazy summer days.
Gone are the days when coaches used two-a-day training-camp drills to get players in shape. College football has become a year-round proposition.
All of Cal's scholarship players are voluntarily in Berkeley this summer. Most are attending summer school, to not only get ahead academically, but to keep receiving scholarship money. Under NCAA rules they can attend regular conditioning drills but can't be part of supervised football practices.
Players spend two hours a day, four days a week, in supervised running and lifting sessions. Most go way beyond that, working out on their own or asking Krasinski for special 1-on-1 sessions. And they voluntarily take part in unsupervised 7-on-7 drills, offense versus defense.
Freshman quarterback Nate Longshore stopped by Krasinski's office on a recent morning, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, carrying his cleats. The two were soon out on the turf, working on Longshore's footwork.
Marshawn Lynch, a sensation at tailback last year as a freshman, has already gained 22 pounds of muscle.
"He's leaner, stronger, faster than he was last year," Krasinski said.
Senior fullback Chris Manderino is one of Krasinski's most avid disciples.
He played at 215 pounds two years ago, 220 last year and says he expects to "comfortably play" at 230 this year.
"My muscle definition, strength and body structure have changed a lot," he said. "I want to increase my 40 time, go up in my lifts, jump higher and carry more weight."
To accomplish that, Manderino has a tight and demanding schedule. He works as an intern for an investment banker from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. He's at the stadium by 4 p.m., where he works out until 7:30 p.m. He also fits in a course on organizational management.
Because players aren't allowed to eat at a training table in the offseason, he's also responsible for his own meals -- strictly adhering to a Krasinski-prescribed diet of protein shakes, eggs, yogurt, protein bars, sandwiches or wraps with lean turkey, beef or pork, and dinners that typically are lean chicken, pasta and vegetables.
"I had no idea it was going to be this much work," Manderino said. "It's tough as a student to balance sports and academics, especially at Cal."
Senior cornerback Harrison Smith said that as demanding as the summer may be, there still is more free time than during the regular school year.
"There's less stuff going on in Berkeley," he said. "This is your last little push. Once you get to camp, you maintain it. But getting stronger and faster, all that happens in the summer time."
Krasinski says he has a special relationship with the players because unlike coach Jeff Tedford, or the coordinators or position coaches, he has no say in who is recruited or who plays.
"My job is to stay here and make our athletes better," he said. "The smartest man can still learn. And no matter how fast or strong you are, you can still get better."
Krasinski, 38 years old, 6-foot and 270 pounds, has taken part in the California Strongman competitions. He played football in the 1980s at Rocky Mountain College and Montana State.
hen Lynch was in the weight room doing the snatch -- a lift in which the weight is taken from the floor to a position over the head -- Krasinski noticed he was working with a relatively small setup of 135 pounds.
"I said, 'Marshawn, you need to go a lot heavier. I could do that with one hand,' " Krasinski said.
So Lynch did just that.
Krasinski recently was telling players about the importance of hand strength, especially in avoiding dislocated fingers when grabbing a player's jersey during a tackle.
So he did pull-ups using just one finger on each hand.
"He's definitely a great motivator," Manderino said. "He's not just some guy telling us what to do."
Some of the heaviest work over the summer involves the linemen, who need to carry a lot of weight to be competitive in the Pac-10. New offensive linemen rarely arrive at Cal weighing the 300 pounds that appear to have become a minimum in the conference.
Weight gains are often dramatic -- and accomplished through nutrition, well-planned workouts and proper rest and recovery time.
Krasinski said he warns players about the dangers of steroids, telling them they could lose a year of eligibility. Plus, he said, there's no real need.
"They show up as an 18-year-old kid and their testosterone is so high," he said. "It's probably the first time in their life they've been in a really good organized program."
He said that with supervision a player can easily add a minimum of one pound of lean muscle a week.
In addition to the supervised workouts, players spend much of their time in 7-on-7s -- noncontact drills with the offense playing against the defense, minus the linemen.
Those drills are typically led by quarterbacks Longshore and junior Joseph Ayoob on offense, and veterans such as Smith and senior rover Donnie McCleskey on defense.
The lineman, meanwhile, work on getting out of their stances and face off in offense versus defense for hand fighting.
Krasinski said the summer program is a critical component for a team that wants to compete at a high level.
"You look at the Pac-10," he said. "Everybody recruits the same areas; everybody is doing the same thing,"
Video technology has further leveled the playing field.
"You can game plan and kind of neutralize the other team," Krasinski said. "It comes down to who's tougher, who's harder, who's not going to quit. It comes down to who wants it more."
Tedford said Krasinski is critical in that mix.
"He's behind the scenes, but he has the greatest impact on the kids," Tedford said. "He can be around the kids all year round. Not only is he helping with conditioning, he's helping with their mind-sets. He's totally unheralded."
Tedford is also mindful of the demands made on his players.
"If they want to go away for a couple days, they go away," he said. "Their teammates hold them accountable."
And finally, Tedford says he tells players to be sure and get away the week before training camp for an old-fashioned summer.
"I tell them, 'Go sit on the beach.' "