Great read on what is happening regarding S&C at SMU in an interview with SMU Strength Coach Trumain Carroll. Hopefully we see Coach Tedford bearing similar fruit at Rice:

Quote:PonyFans.com: One of the things you mentioned a moment ago was the need for speed at the skill positions, that you need able to “fly.” But you always hear coaches say “you can’t teach height and you can’t teach speed.” How much can you change the speed of these players through your program?
Carroll: Well, if you look and break down the components of developing speed … speed is basically how much force you apply to the ground. So if I’m 165 pounds, and I only squat 200 pounds and I only clean 185 pounds, I’m only able to develop so much force that I can apply to the ground in order to propel myself forward or laterally or straight up off the ground. So the thing is, if we develop those guys, if we develop that 165-pound body and increase him to 180 pounds, and get him to where he’s squatting over 300 pounds and cleaning well over 200 pounds, that’s more force. That’s more force that’s able to be applied to the ground, and more force that’s able to propel an athlete going forward or laterally or up in the air.

To give you an example, we have a running back who was a freshman last year. When he got here, he was 183 pounds and he ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash. Take him a year later, and now he’s 200 pounds, and he runs a 4.43 in the 40. So not only has he put on nearly 20 pounds, but he also has increased his speed more than a 10th of a second. If you watch him now, he’s a little bit of a different dude. It’s not just about putting weight on a guy — that’s not necessarily going to make people faster, and I don’t want that being taken out of context. It’s about developing what they have and teaching them what they’re deficient at in order to get the most out of them. So it’s kind of a balancing act. With those guys — especially with the guys who are younger, those guys who are a year or two removed from high school, or the guys who are fresh out of high school and just had their graduation a few weeks ago — the thing is, you’ve got to be able to manage their bodies, manage their workloads, to where you don’t take too much, too early, because if you try to get greedy, you can actually work against yourself. It’s about having a fine balance, looking at body language because all guys aren’t great at communicating what’s going on inside their bodies. But if you have a good gauge of them, if you know when they are 100 percent, you know when you can push them a little bit more. Or, when they’re looking a little run-down and fatigued? That’s when you know to back off a little bit, to where you can maximize what you get out of your training window.

Here is the link to Part 1SMU S&C Interview Part 1
And the link to Part 2 for those interested.
SMU S&C Interview Part 2

Incidentally, this is the type of coverage I wish we had at Rice. One day...