When the Mustang football team takes the field tomorrow afternoon for the annual Red & Blue scrimmage, fans can expect to see a much bigger lineup than they have grown accustomed to over recent years.
Under strength and conditioning coordinator Chuck Faucette, players have maintained a strict off-season regimen dedicated to beefing up and bearing down.
“Everyone always says, ‘This is the best off-season we’ve ever had,’” Faucette explained. “That’s a cliché, but in this case, it really was.”
The off-season workout program, according to Faucette, was seven weeks long, during which players focused on basic cardiovascular training by running two to four times a week; the rest of their time was spent in the weight room pumping iron.
“Everyone is bigger. Everyone is stronger,” Faucette said. “Our linemen really look like linemen.”
Cousins Ben and Tommy Poynter, for example, have sized up markedly since their freshman year. Ben is now 280 pounds, with Tommy weighing in at 270.
On the spring roster, the Mustangs listed seven players over 300 pounds, led by sophomore defensive tackle Andrew Feige at 6-foor-2 and 340 pounds.
Increasing the numbers on the scale, however, was not the only objective of the training regimen. Faucette noted that some players’ weight loss will prove beneficial on the gridiron this fall.
Defensive tackle Brandon Bonds, for example, has dropped 25 pounds to 305 since last season. In addition, Faucette said he is much quicker overall while bench-pressing over 400 pounds and squatting more than 500.
Bonds knows the rigorous off-season training regimen will prove nothing short of beneficial when the team opens the season against the Baylor Bears on Sept. 3.
“It’ll be very beneficial to us,” he said, “especially against some of the bigger teams that we’re going to face in our conference this year.”
Defensive end Don Ieremia-Stansbury praised Faucette’s unique way of challenging the players to get the most out of themselves and each other.
“As a whole, [the workout program] helped us in many ways because guys were put in different groups and at different strength levels,” he said, “and that really helped our team chemistry.”
A 6-foot-2, 235-pound native of El Paso, Tex., Stansbury knows he and his teammates have much to offer to SMU football fans, beginning at tomorrow’s Red & Blue scrimmage.
“I hope to see a lot of people out there, ready to cheer on their 2005 Mustangs.”
Likewise, Bonds looks to give the Ford Stadium fan base some of the best collegiate football they have seen in a while.
“We’re going to show that we’re a much improved team,” he said. “We’re going to give the fans what they came to watch.”
Kick-off for the final scrimmage of the spring is set for 1 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in Gerald J. Ford Stadium, and admission is free.
Before the game, all fans are invited to enjoy lunch at the Mustang Club Bar-B-Que. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., the event will take place in the south end zone of the stadium. Tickets for the barbeque are $10 per person, and reservations must be made in advance by calling (214) 768-1319.
