CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina head football strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess met with the media Tuesday morning to discuss how exactly strength and conditioning works within the program, and what he has seen in his players through strength and conditioning.
Strength and conditioning plays a huge role in how the players perform on the field. Hess makes sure that his players are training right, recovering right, and eating right as well. As the season approaches, it is important for the Tar Heels to be as physically ready as possible.
Above is the full video of Hess’ Q&A session and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*Nutrition is a big part of strength and conditioning. Hess talked about how huge nutrition is in what they do as a staff. They have a plan for the players to go along with their training to make sure they are getting proper nutrition so that they can grow and get stronger. Head nutritionist Kelsee Gomes plays a huge role in helping out the players with their meals.
“Kelsee’s up there, and her or her staff is coaching guys as they go through the line, so that’s their lifting, that’s their practice,” Hess said. “They’re coaching guys through the line making sure that each guy is getting a meal that’s specific to them that’s gonna help them achieve their goals.”
Hess went into detail explaining what exactly this process looks like when the players get their meals.
“The biggest thing is as they go through the line Kelsee’s right there,” he said. “We’ll do a plate check where she coaches them through and then they have to bring their plate to a table to make sure they’re checked for attendance, and then at that point again another dietician checking their plate making sure it’s exactly what we want.
“Miss Kelsee does a lot as far as what the guys can have on the weekends. She’ll send them home with stuff that they can make so that we can have a little bit more control over the things that when they’re away from us, but it’s absolutely a huge piece of what we do.”
*Coronavirus significantly affected last season’s offseason program, what has stood out this year now having a full offseason?
“We lay a foundation in the winter, and then everything builds off of that, and you know last year’s Summer was so unique,” Hess said. “This year we were actually able to put everything together and see that final product.
“I mean, for us one of the biggest focuses was our o-line and our d-line, and just really pushing those guys to take that next step, and a lot of those guys have made huge steps.
“I can’t wait to see Jordan Tucker play. He’s one specifically who last year, if he had a full offseason, I think he would have been next level and this year with that I think some of those guys who just didn’t get to complete that piece of it. That really hurt him, not hurt him, but I’m excited for what he’s gonna show you this year.”
*What other players stood out this offseason in strength and conditioning? Hess started out with some freshmen that got to campus this summer that have impressed him most.
“(Bryson) Nesbit, he’s gonna be a monster,” Hess said, referring to the tight end who enrolled this summer. “We just need our time with him, but he’s got a lot of potential.
“Donte Balfour is another one who’s got that potential. He’s got that frame, we just gotta keep growing him, so those guys we got this summer I’m very excited about.”
Hess continued on, noting a few more freshmen that have impressed since arriving in January.
“Power Echols I think people have been talking a lot about how he moves and how violent he is,” Hess said. “He’s someone that made great gains, put the weight on that he needed, kept developing his body, we’re really excited about him.”
For the upperclassmen, there were multiple guys whose work Hess highlighted.
“For the upperclassmen, the Fox (Tomon and Tomari) brothers, those guys are weight room guys,” he said. “They love tough days, they want those tough days, and have been really fun to watch, and taken into some really good leadership positions.
“Eugene Asante is someone, he just has a purpose. He’s inspired this year. Every Time he’s in there you can tell that he’s got a goal and he’s doing whatever he can to achieve that goal. He’s been really exciting to watch.”
*How much stronger has the football program gotten since Hess got here in 2019?
“We’re pushing as hard as we can in the weight room from a numbers standpoint, we’re pushing those numbers and we’re getting guys as strong as we can,” Hess replied. “The big thing is we wanna see wins. That’s what all of this is for, football is number one. All the strength and conditioning, all the things that we do, it’s all to get wins because that’s what we wanna see is those guys celebrating on the field, going to the next level, going to the NFL, changing their lives.
“All of this is geared towards that, so that is how you evaluate it, you know. We want to see wins.
“We can get them as strong as we want but if we don't win you know we’re missing an element of our program from a total package whether it’s for the football side, strength and conditioning side, mobility conditioning, we want all of that to be put together and that to all equal wins.”
