Ryan Russell had an eye-opening thought during his quarantine: This is the longest any of Auburn's players have gone without organized practices or workouts since the team didn't make a bowl game following the 2012 season.
Auburn's strength and conditioning coach is away from his players, unable to give hands-on instruction for the past month and for the near future. He has distributed workout plans — one to the 25 or so percent of players he said have access to a home gym, and one to the remainder.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the nation, Russell's last time working closely with the Tigers was in pre-spring workouts. Starting Jan. 21, players had a four-week period working without coaches, then Russell and company got involved from Feb. 16 until the university's spring break began March 6.
That's when the Tigers expressed their goals to the strength staff, and Russell put specific regimens in place based on what those players wanted to achieve — whether it was to bulk up, slim down, or get stronger or faster.
"Really good offseason," Russell said Tuesday during a teleconference with local reporters. "Like I said, I was pleased with it. The guys that needed to put on lean body mass were able to do that. Some of the guys that were looking at cutting some weight did a good job with that, and just certain guys that maybe hadn’t been as committed as they needed to be to help us on the field made that next step from a commitment standpoint, which is good to see.
“But yeah, we have a lot of guys, obviously, that needed to step up this upcoming season, and this is their time. It was good to see a lot of those guys do that. We saw that sense of urgency improve during this winter offseason, and I was really looking forward to the spring ball time, seeing it transfer to the field and continue to train those guys."
In particular, Russell was ready to see Auburn's early enrollee freshmen get their shot on the practice field after what he said was an impressive period of workouts and conditioning for a selfless group of youngsters.
“Just the overall low-ego, high-output approach they brought everyday was awesome," Russell said of the freshmen. "I was really enjoying working with them. It’s a good crew."
Russell said the entire early enrollee class deserves praise. By name, however, he noted that running back Tank Bigsby, receiver Kobe Hudson and defensive end Zykeivous Walker stood out to the staff.
Bigsby was Auburn's highest-rated 2020 signee; Hudson was the second-highest as a top 25 receiver in the nation; and Walker was the No. 4 strongside defensive end in the country.
"Obviously Tank Bigsby is a good worker and that’s the exciting part about it," Russell said. "He’s a talented kid obviously, but a good worker. Loves the game. This game is a lifestyle to him, it’s not just a game. He’s all about it. Kobe Hudson is a good overall athlete as far as movement-wise. Zykeivous Walker is a great kid. They’ve all done a good job, they really have. It’s going to be exciting to continue to work with them and progress them during their time here for sure.”
Russell, Gus Malzahn's strength coach since 2012, echoed his head coach, who last week said Auburn's coaches spoke often about how pleased they were with the attitude of both the returning players and the first-year Tigers.
“We really worked hard on just accountability and being accountable to each other," Malzahn said of winter workouts. "Being able to earn the trust of your teammates and coaches, that was really our message ... We’ve got a bunch of young guys that we need to take the next step, that need to grow. We felt better."
Russell added the title of executive director of football to his duties, which he said has made him head of character development with the aforementioned freshmen.
The position gives Russell an opportunity to connect with the freshmen on a closer level from Day 1 at Auburn.
"One of the big things that I’m really enjoying is coach has put me in charge of the freshman guys, our early enrollees," Russell said. "So any time a freshman comes on campus, I’m kind of in charge of their character development program and getting them started on the right foot. So that has been a lot of fun.
"It’s things that we preach down here all the time in the weight room, that sometimes I don’t necessarily get to do in-depth on as much as I would like."
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