Written by Matt Smith

After not having a spring football season last year due to Covid-19, IU is looking forward to having a full offseason conditioning program this spring. Indiana’s spring football season begins March 9th.

The Hoosier’s winter workout program began in late January, and is now into week four, according to Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Football Performance Aaron Wellman.

“We have made a lot of progress, but a lot of progress has to be made in the next two weeks before spring ball. As far as alterations based on 2020, not much was altered, thankfully, in 2021,” Wellman said.

Wellman, who is beginning his second year with the Hoosiers after a stint with the New York Giants, has been working with the players on their strength, speed and agility during their winter workouts.

There are a lot of newcomers coming into the program, which means there has been some shutdowns of the program due to covid issues. This causes the Hoosiers to be a little behind schedule.

“I do not think there is a year that I have not felt behind. I always feel like we are playing catch up because the goals we have for our players mentally, physically and physiologically are always lofty. We always feel like we are behind in some regard. This year is no different,” Wellman said in a press conference on Monday.

“Obviously, all of us as performance programs at every school feel that pressure of being behind simply because of the lost time last year,”Wellman continued. “Having said that, that is behind us. All we can do is push forward. We have spring ball here in two weeks. Every day is so valuable.”

IU is also welcoming freshmen and transfers who are early enrolled to the school. According to Wellman, IU does a lot of one on one workouts in a two week block. So, these workouts are helping him get to know the new members of the team.

“What are your deficiencies? What are the greatest limiters to performance, speed, strength and power? Isometric strength, eccentric strength, whatever that is, we identify it very quickly. Early in January we take two-three weeks to address those issues,” Wellman said.

Wellman and the rest of the strength coaches are working on retesting the athletes, even though they constantly monitor it. According to Wellman, each athlete needs an individualized approach, due to many different factors.

“That is the basis of our program. We have the ability to give our athletes exactly what they need. Ultimately, we want them to be a better player because they are in our strength program, not just a better lifter or stronger,” Wellman said.

Wellman has also worked with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. on his recovery from a second torn acl. According to Wellman, Penix has been working hard with the team doctors and his staff in order to recover from this injury.

IU will continue their winter strength and conditioning program, until they are allowed to get onto the field in a couple of weeks.

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