Caton Emphasizes Energy and Explosiveness In Off-Season Workouts

Jacob Robinson and Brandon Knight work on building muscle for their sophomore seasons. Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosierhuddle.com

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Wednesday was a typical mid-winter day in Bloomington. The rain was pounding down on the turf of Memorial Stadium outside of the North End Zone weight room. There was a threat of significant snowfall in the forecast for later in the evening. It was a perfect day to stay under a blanket and watch re-runs of Family Guy on Netflix. Instead, we were standing in the weight room waiting for the football team to make the short job over from the Mellencamp Pavilion. Suddenly the atmosphere transformed from a crummy Wednesday into a warm September Saturday as the players whooped it up outside the glass doors and the strength staff cranked up the stereo, before the team burst into the room as if they were taking on the national champs.

The players embrace the enthusiasm as senior-to-be Dimitric Camiel called the entrance into the weight room "the most exciting part. Everybody is coming off the field, we're bumping around and jumping. We're hyped. Then we come in the weight room and it's time to go to work, so you don't want to just walk in, you want to come in and attack it.

The players love what Caton has brought to the program, "he is what (Coach Wilson) said he is. He knows what he's doing. He takes care of us" said linebacker Tegray Scales. 

New head strength coach Keith Caton is emphasizing speed and said "everything thing we do is trying to be fast, explosive, and aggressive" to match the nature of IU's offense. The expectations are high for this program and these are the little things, that most people do not get to see, that will turn close losses into wins. Caton wants to build winning habits in the weight room and he likes what he sees so far and says IU has a "bunch of hard workers." After over an hour of lifting and stretching, Caton gathered the team on the back wall and ended the session by breaking it down with a "Big Ten Champs" shout.

The Hoosiers start spring practice on Saturday, March 5th and will hold their Spring Game on Friday, April 15th (time is TBA). IU will open the season at Florida International on Thursday, September 1st (time is TBA). Follow @Hoosier_Huddle on Twitter for all your IU football updates and news as we head into spring ball next week.