Nick Savage crafts workouts from home for Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The coronavirus pandemic has forced college programs to become inventive.

How can they continue to help their players develop hundreds of miles apart?

How can they help these players when they are now allowed to monitor physical activities, such as remotely watching or directing workouts - so no virtual coaching.

Dan Mullen and his staff immediately got to work to figure out the logistics.

"The No. 1 concern out of everything was, once again, the safety and well being of our student athletes," Director of Strength and Conditioning Nick Savage told reporters during a teleconference on Friday. " We wanted to make sure that we had a plan in place and they understood completely how they could put themselves in the best position to continue to succeed."

Savage, who describes himself as a planner, immediately started to draw up plans for how the Gators could feasibly continue to prepare for the season without being on campus together.

"I will adapt with whatever is thrown my way, it’s kind of how I live life, so immediately when this kind of get started, long story short, I formulated a bunch of different plans based on what scenario happened," he explained. "As things continue to unfold and obviously you lean towards one side of the plan then the other.

"I think coach does an unbeliveable job -not just preparing players but the rest of the staff in terms steering the ship in what the direction we are going to go with all this. But obviously ."

So Savage began to work.

The Florida coach told the players in the team's last meeting that they would all handle the coronavirus the right way - which means social distancing and with proper sanitary measures.

Savage and his staff then took it upon themselves to put together a few videos on a private YouTube page, so that players can workout when they head home.

"Between me and my staff we set up a general take-home workout plan basically that is designed around no equipment," he explainedl. "And they have that, but then also based on what they have at their house we've designed individual programs for each one of those people based on what resources they have at the house."

Although the staff cannot virtually coach the players, they are allowed to communicate with them regularly. Savage spends a lot of his time FaceTiming, texting and calling the players - ensuring the players continue to work but also to make sure they are mentally okay.

There are some challenges, however.

With gyms closed across the country, not all players have access to a complete home gym at their family home or even small gym equipment. This is where Savage and the player adapt to their surroundings and get creative.

No dumbbells? No problem.

"Typically, it’s family members or pets," Savage said. "It’s been the best. We’ve had everything from buckets and hoses and potting plant pots you would put plants in. Family members, pets, we’ve had a whole bunch of things. It’s been refreshing."

The good news is that the players are also holding each other accountable.

"I still communicate a lot with the leadership committee and I still put a lot on them," said Savage. "They have been on a positive, engaging way. They basically pick on and egg each other on. 'I did this, I did this many reps,' and so on and so forth. I think our guys do a great job of not only enjoying hard work and putting in the time and commitment in order to be successful, but they also they are very competitive.

"If some guy sends out a video and essentially he doesn’t do so called good reps, at least with what he has been taught, and then some players correct him. It has been engaging and interactive. And for the situation we’re in the guys are making the best with what we got."

Obviously it is unfortunate that players cannot continue on the trajectory from winter workouts. However, Savage says they can still sustain it.

"The biggest thing is obviously, if it’s done properly..You can do enough at home as long as intensity and volume is high enough to at least maintain what you did," Savage said. "Now one thing they got to do really a good job of that goes away pretty quickly is obviously their conditioning level. Things like that. If they sit on the couch the whole time and don’t do any exercises and don’t run, that’s not a really good recipe. Through communication I don’t foresee that being a problem at this point."

Dan Mullen and company have done a good job of instilling the 'Gator Standard' the last few seasons, which should help the players understand them understand the expectations moving forward - even from a distance.

"I can say when we return we’re going to treat it like these have done nothing during this month or this two months, however long it ends up being, period," Savage said. "We always err on the side of caution, rather than too much. Then based on how they perform we can always increase and accelerate as fast we are able to. But we always start slower rather than faster so we provide proper development and adaptation over the period."