Teamwork: Players are becoming accountable to one another
Growing up my parents had a discipline technique that they employed quite often. If my brother or I were disobeying or falling behind on responsibilities (and let’s be honest it was pretty much always him) then both of us would be punished. This wasn’t used in every situation, but instead for circumstances when one of us could have feasibly made a difference for the other. It taught us to watch out for each other and instead of being a tattletale, become a team that kept each other on the straight and narrow.
It’s such a simple concept but when employed correctly can set a precedent that last a lifetime. At least, that’s what Dan Mullen is planning on with the Florida Gators.
After Tuesday’s practice ended players and coaches turned and began walking. It wasn’t toward the gate to leave though but instead towards the opposite sideline. Then they started running. Sideline to sideline they went as a group.
Again…and again…and again.
Each pass was the player’s own choice according to Mullen.
“Yeah, they weren’t real happy. That was pretty simple, that was about going to class. I don’t control that, they control that. If you’re late for class, everybody that’s late for a class would run a gasser for it. If they don’t wanna run gassers, then show up on time for class and we don’t run gassers."
The clock clicked closer to 7pm—when Dan Mullen was supposed to be across campus speaking at the ACCENT student event. Instead he was still on the field matching his team step for step as they ran.
Again…and again…and again.
“I’m part of the team, so I should run the gassers too, you know? And make sure I’m not just standing there telling them to do it. So if they ever look and say, 'Hey, you just stand there with a whistle,' I’m — hey, if you guys mess up — if we make mistakes, we’re all gonna pay the price.
“Whether it’s discipline issues, academic issues, football issues, training issues, we all pay the price, and so I’m gonna pay the price just like them.”
So together they all went, from one sideline to the other and back.
Again…and again…and again.
The sun started to set, casting shadows through the pines and guys started to falter. If it had been on ice it would have been eerily similar to the iconic “Again!” scene from Miracle, the movie about the 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team.
Redshirt senior tight end C’yontai Lewis found himself doing runs twice, coming back for big defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe as fellow lineman CeCe Jefferson flanked the two for support. Lewis started off simply encouraging Conliffe. By the time they were halfway across the field, Lewis was literally pushing Conliffe, giving encouraging shoves to help the big guy finish the drill.
This happened during more than one run with more than one duo.
“I talked to the guys that are leadership committee,” said Mullen.
“If the guy’s on your team, you’re responsible for him.”
“The whole goal there is accountability,” explained strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage, who sees this every day in workouts.
“We want guys to learn how to lead. Leadership obviously starts in smaller groups before it can become to a larger setting. Leadership is one thing but also accountability. They need to understand that if they don’t do things the right way their team is going to suffer.”
And just like my brother and I would begin to circle back with each other, making sure chores were done and mistakes were quickly corrected, Mullen foresees a team that will take responsibility not only for themselves but for their brother.
“If you’re a leadership committee guy and there’s a guy on your team missing class, if you don’t want the team to run sprints, it’s not just his responsibility, it’s the leadership committee’s guy within their individual teams to set that standard. Get out there and maybe push him to make sure he finishes because we’re running if one of those guys misses, it their fault we’re running.
“The best way to do it is just call them, just ‘hey I got your class schedule.’ That teaches leadership and accountability. Make sure you’re on time to class and doing what you’re supposed to do, especially for the younger guys. And then as they get older, they’ll understand they might have to take help the younger guys and learn how to take care of their business.”
The ultimate goal is two-fold. One, make better men. Two, make better football players, the latter of which will manifest itself on the field during games.
“If some guy is struggling, somebody else better push him and you better work together as a team. I think that was the biggest thing to me. Making sure that we understand that everyone out there, our goal is to win the game and that everything we do is about working together as a team — not just as an offensive guy or a defensive guy or ‘hey I don’t want this guy to push me.’
“Well, he should push you if you’re not living up to the standards and expectations of the program. Everybody should push you. You’d love to see the whole team pushing guys.”
Even on a team with everyone pushing though, there are still leaders and followers. The important thing Mullen wants his players to understand is that it’s possible to be both. What has to be understood though is there’s a time and place. Knowing how to recognize your opportunities, when you’re needed to step up and when you need to take a step back, is the sign of maturity.
"I think guys are trying to lead in their own way. That's one of the things that I've stressed to our guys. Look at David Reese. He may not be the most vocal guy but he goes hard and tries to do everything right. Well, there's leadership qualities in being able to do that. The key on that is to know when to be vocal and when not to.
“There's guys that love to talk. Well, there's times to talk and times not to. I want everybody on the team to know when to lead and when to follow. It's just as important to know when to follow as it is how to lead. We're spending a lot of time talking about that. That's why I talked about it at the end of practice.
“I see people trying to talk and lead and they're not sure, but there was nothing getting accomplished. Let's just talk about this: There's a time to lead and a time to follow. Here's the right things to say and the wrong things to say... when you should speak up and when you shouldn't. There's a lot of that -- teaching leadership skills within a team."
At long last the final whistle blew and the gassers were mercifully done. Mullen jogged off to his ACCENT speech, still in his workout gear and players began to disperse. They didn’t go home though. Many just broke back into their position groups, working on areas of weakness and looking to one another for assistance as the sun continued to set on a bright new day in Florida football.
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