By Philip Sikes // Athletic Communications
You won’t see it, but 12 members of the Tiger football team will be wearing performance-measuring sensors in their pads tonight when Clemson takes on No. 1 ranked Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium. The sensors were designed by Catapult and first implemented as a scientific training device in Australia in the 1990s.
Assistant strength & conditioning coach Paul Hogan has been using the monitors each day in practice, measuring anything from a player’s acceleration, deceleration, power and overall workload.
“This is the first time we’ve used them in a game,” said Hogan, who will place the sensors (see picture) in each of the 12 players’ shoulder pads. “It gives us a great look at real-time data.”
The strength coaches share the numbers generated with each player and his position coach. During a typical week, the numbers balloon on a Tuesday, typically a more demanding practice. But last week, a bye week for the No. 22 ranked Tigers, the workload was greater than what you see leading up to a game.
“We did a lot of work,” Hogan said. “Most guys had all-time highs in several categories last week, with decreasing totals each practice this week. You want them at peak performance on gameday.”
Catapult’s products are designed to help the Tigers figure out ways to do just that.
April 22, 2024
April 21, 2024
