The Football Players Eat their Spinach

Today is of course UK Football Media Day, meaning that the focus of the sporting world will be on our boys in blue as they get ready for another season of gridiron action. Along those lines, we must report some of the UK football news, and that of course means it is time to review the "World's Strongest UK Players." Now I freely admit to not being that much of a weightlifter. Even though I am a tall guy and played sports through school, my time in the weight room was very limited. I did once lift weights at the same time as country singer "Aaron Tippin, but my attempts at bench pressing 95 pounds were not given much credibility by the moustached crooner. To be honest, I have never even understood why people like lifting weights as much as they do. Many of the contributors to the KSR Blog such as the Turkey Hunter and T. Walters love to pump iron and build their muscles up so they dont feel strained carrying in their dry cleaning, but that hasnt been me. Thus when I read that we have football players benching over 400 pounds, I am impressed. This may be a nominal amount to many, but to me it is super impressive. I mean picking up that amount of weight is rarely done by anyone that is not the Turkey Hunter out looking for dates on a Saturday night. So I am truly impressed. Below is a UKAthletics official article about the various weights people lifted and the winners in all the categories. Let it be noted that as good as our team is, Pat Robertson would have led all positions in the various categories. And you people say Rich Brooks can recruit....... The results of the off-season strength program have been tabulated and the Wildcats' hard work in the weight room has paid off in improved numbers in all three of the major lifts -- the bench press, squat lift, and power clean. In the bench press, 44 percent of the team has lifted at least 325 pounds, up four percent over a year ago. The top bench pressers include offensive guard Trai Williams (480 pounds), offensive guard Christian Johnson (460), and defensive tackle Jason Leger (435). In the squat lift, 31 percent of the team has hefted at least 500 pounds, up from 29.8 percent last year. The best squatters have been defensive tackle Myron Pryor (700 pounds), defensive end Dominic Lewis (645), and defensive tackles Jason Leger and Ventrell Jenkins (640 each). Lewis is the team leader in the power clean with 380 pounds, followed by center Travis Slaydon, linebacker Mikhail Mabry, and defensive end Nii Adjei Oninku (340 each). As a team, 32.3 percent of the Wildcats have lifted at least 300, up from 31.1 percent this time a year ago. The lifting champions in each position group, totaling all three lifts, including offensive guard Trai Williams (1,400 pounds), fullback Terrell Bankhead (1,240), quarterback Andre' Woodson (1,010), tight end Tyler Sexton (1,260), wide receiver Dicky Lyons (1,060), defensive tackle Myron Pryor (1,425), linebacker Terry Clayton (1,370), cornerback Shomari Moore (1,115), with long snapper Jason Dickerson (1,115) representing the specialists. In the pound-for-pound category, comparing total lifts to body weight, the top lifters are Moore, Bankhead, cornerback David Jones, linebacker Wesley Woodyard, and tailback Rafael Little. Overall team quickness appears to be improving as well. In the 20-yard shuttle run, 32.9 percent of the team clocks at less than 4.32 seconds, improved from 26 percent last year.