Jackson returns to A&M to get players into better shape

Courtesy of aggiesports.com

By DAVID HARRIS
david.harris@theeagle.com 

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S.Villanueva

Former Texas A&M football player Larry Jackson is now the strength and conditioning coach for the Aggies.

Texas A&M strength and conditioning coach Larry Jackson had a short, succinct response when asked about his specific job description.

"My job is to make sure the other team gets tired first," he said adamantly from his perch in the Netum Steed Laboratory.

Jackson was a standout linebacker at A&M from 1991-1994 and went on to play in the NFL for three seasons. The former Rockdale High standout still looks the part. But in his office he's wearing glasses that give him the look of the wise, elder statesman returning to the same weight room he used.

Jackson loved to work out as a player. After his playing days were finished in 1998, Jackson hadn't the slightest idea what he wanted to do. He was invited back to mirror former A&M strength coach Mike Clark for a week, which was plenty of time for him to get hooked.

"After the second day, I knew it was what I wanted to do," he said.

It was as Clark's assistant in 2001 that Jackson met current A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin, who was coaching Aggie wide receivers. The two immediately hit it off and Sumlin made a promise to Jackson.

"He told me if he ever got a head coaching job," Jackson said, "he wanted me to be his head strength and conditioning coach."

Sumlin was hired at Oklahoma after former A&M head coach R.C. Slocum was relieved of his duties following the 2002 season. Sumlin convinced OU head coach Bob Stoops to interview Jackson. Stoops had led the Sooners to two national championship games in four seasons, so Jackson listened. He also was enticed by the opportunity to work under Jerry Schmidt, one of the best in the business who was named the 1991 Collegiate Strength Coach of the Year by USA Fitness. Schmidt also had worked at Notre Dame, Nebraska and Florida.

"The strength coaches that are really good and really develop the players, their teams are winning and have been winning for while," Jackson said. "Everywhere [Schmidt] went, they won national championships."

Jackson's prospects brightened as Sumlin was promoted from special teams coordinator and tight ends coach to co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. That prepared him to be hired as head coach at the University of Houston when Art Briles left for Baylor. Sumlin was true to his word and took Jackson with him.

"I needed to become a head guy," Jackson said. "I needed to run my own program and prove to everybody else that I could run my own program."

Jackson's approach is predicated on building the core and the hips. To him, it is the engine of the locomotive that is a football player. Without it, everything else fails.

"When a player's hips get tired, the ability to play, to run around, to stay low, they lose that ability because their hips are weak," he said. "That's what ties the top and bottom together. You can bench or squat all you want, but if you can't tie it together you have no chance to win."

Jackson aims to prevents his teams from withering in the second half of games. He said anybody can play in the first half -- when the buildup, adrenaline and crowd contribute to a player's energy level. But the true testament to a strength and conditioning program is what happens after the teams come back out of the locker room.

"My number one goal is that my athletes outlast the other team," he said.

In Jackson's six seasons at Houston, the Cougars outscored opponents by a total of 486 points after halftime. Last season, as Jackson watched his alma mater collapse in the second half of five losses, Jackson couldn't help but get angry. Watching the Aggies get outscored by 47 points after halftime made him wince.

"It made me hungry," he said. "It made it personal for me because someone else was teaching my little brothers what I didn't think was right."

After Sumlin was hired by A&M, Jackson followed him back to Netum Steed.

"Getting the chance to come back here and train my little brothers and teach them how to fight, that's personal," he said. "Coming back to my alma mater, this is not business. It's personal."

Sumlin trusts Jackson. Before spring practice began Saturday, Jackson was in charge of the players for six out of eight hours allowed to the coaches each week. When the team breaks for the summer, Jackson will run another eight-week program while the other coaches can't have contact with the players.

"He's as important a coach as we have," Sumlin said.

Jackson is challenging the players in ways they've never been challenged. He's been surprised with how well they've adjusted. He said it helps that the players understand the challenge of getting ready to play in the Southeastern Conference, the country's most physical league that's produced the last six national champions.

"They know what they have facing them and they jumped right in," he said.

Linebacker Sean Porter calls Jackson a players' coach who's not afraid to discipline the guys. Porter said there's a certain amount of innate respect for a coach who has been there.

"It's good to have a coach who actually played football and played at a high level," Porter said. "It's good to have coaches around that have been through the things that you want to do."

Jackson is confident in his program because he's seen it work.

"He tells me we don't need to have a conditioning test when we start fall camp because he's had them for eight weeks [before then]," Sumlin said. "He said 'the test is me, if they're not ready to go, you let me go,' which is a pretty damn bold statement."

Want bold? Jackson assures the Aggie faithful that second-half collapses are not going to become habitual on his watch.

"We're not going to lose a game because we're tired," he said.