Cutting out the No. 1 combo at Chick-fil-A — that’s the chicken sandwich, fries and a drink, followed by a “My pleasure” – has helped Eason Fromayan become a potential starter at offensive tackle for Georgia Tech’s football team.
It wasn’t just about cutting out the food from the Atlanta-based chicken chain. Eason tried to reduce his intake of most of the fast food that can be found around campus.
And it wasn’t just Fromayan, but coach Paul Johnson has twice this camp mentioned how the redshirt junior has changed his body. The rest of the players on the line also worked hard this summer to reduce their body fat, which has helped improve their quickness and endurance as they look to rebound from last year’s 3-9 record.
“It’s good to hear coach Johnson’s praises about all of us,” Fromayan said. “We all worked hard to drop our weight.”
Fromayan, who played at Milton High in Alpharetta, said he weighs 272 pounds, down from the max of 296 he did weight. His body fat has decreased from 27 percent to 17.
“I’m excited to watch him play,” Johnson said. “I think he’ll do some good things.”
Johnson made a point during this offseason of trying to improve the conditioning of his players by focusing on the percentage of body fat, rather than weight. As he can be with many beliefs about college football, Johnson doesn’t like the theory that players at certain positions need to weigh certain amounts. For example, a speed rusher that weighs 245 pounds with 20 percent body fat is likely going to be more effective than if he bulks up to 275 but adds 5 more percentage points in body fat. Johnson calls that bad weight.
“It’s just not a given that because you get bigger, you get better,” Johnson said.
This isn't a new belief for Johnson while at Tech. The starting offensive line for the Tech team in the 2010 Orange Bowl featured offensive linemen that weighed between 257 pounds (Brad Sellers) and 308 (Cord Howard). Just two players on the line's two-deep roster eclipsed 300 pounds. That team averaged 295.4 rushing yards per game.
For whatever reason, things began to change over the years. The two deep for last year's finale against Georgia featured three players who weighed at least 300 pounds and several more who were within a few pounds of that arbitrary weight belief that linemen must hit. That team averaged 256.2 rushing yards per game.
There are many reasons to explain the differences in rushing averages between the two teams, but Johnson clearly felt like some improvements in conditioning needed to be made following last year. Some players dropped body fat and weight, while others dropped body fat but added weight because they added more muscle mass.
On the line, Tech doesn’t have much experience outside of two-year starter Freddie Burden at center. But if leaner bodies can improve agility and stamina, they could be equalizing factors for a line that doesn’t rely so much on brute force as it does being quick off the ball, taking proper angles and gaining leverage. A year after Tech recorded its lowest per-game rushing average in Johnson’s tenure, better line play combined with returning starters and increased depth at the running back spots could mean a return to the explosive and efficient play that has characterized Johnson’s offenses.
“A lot of our guys really took that to heart and I think that the strength staff worked hard on it,” Johnson said. “We’ve still got individuals who’ve struggled, but as a team, it’s good. It’s good. We’re probably the leanest we’ve been in a while.”
To help the players understand what they needed to do, Johnson said they took the NFL players by position and listed their body fat percentage. Fromayan said linemen average 20-22, so his percentage is well below. Position coach Mike Sewak said nine of the linemen are below 18 percent body fat. He said it’s the most he’s had at Tech.
The linemen’s body fat was first measured in December. Jake Stickler said measurements were taken every two weeks after they returned fromm Christmas break. He started at 28 perent and is down to 18, while his weight has remained at 287. Will Bryan dropped body fat but gained weight. After weighing as much as 275 pounds with 19 percent body fat, he said he now weighs as much as 295 with 16 percent body fat.
Because of the lost weight and decreased body fat, several of the linemen said they feel better, have better first steps off the line, better stamina during practice and are recovering faster. Quarterback Justin Thomas said the endurance is evident in the pace of the practices not slowing down.
Within the offense, Fromayan said he and the rest of the linemen are able to get through the defensive linemen and into the linebackers and safeties more efficiently in their attempts to block them. That inability to block the second-level players was sometimes an issue last year when the running game struggled.
“They seem to be moving well, getting up the next level, getting on linebackers and moving their feet,” Sewak said. “It’s force equals mass times acceleration. We are trying to get a little bit of force because we are trying to accelerate a little bit more and our mass isn’t as big as it used to be. Now we can get people on the ground a little bit. It looks nice.”
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