Dolphins’ Rashawn Scott among NFL players who have found secret weapon
UM track coach Deem helps runners find their next gear
CORAL GABLES — After dealing with a foot injury last season, receiver Rashawn Scott knew he might need help to regain the speed and power needed to get back in the Miami Dolphins’ rotation.
So when Robert Bailey, his agent and a former Hurricanes football player himself, suggested Scott return to his alma mater and train with Miami’s track coach, Scott was intrigued.
It didn’t matter to either Bailey or Scott that that coach, Amy Deem, was a woman. It didn’t matter, either, that most of the athletes she trains compete for medals, not Super Bowls.
Scott knew from his time at Miami that she had helped several former Hurricanes football players — like Phillip Dorsett and Travis Benjamin — juggle both football and track, all while she also coached a bevy of track and field AllAmericans, ACC champions and Olympians.
That was enough to prove to Scott that Deem could help him get going again.
“I knew what she was able to do, but while I was [at UM], I never went out of my way myself to work with her. So it was amazing that Rob set it up, and it’s great that she wanted to work with me,” said Scott, who spent several weeks ahead of Dolphins organized team activities working with Deem in Coral Gables. “If he’d suggested anybody else, I wouldn’t have done it. But it’s her. I know what she’s done. I know what a couple of the guys I’d played with had done with her. … Once [Bailey] set it up, I said, ‘Why not? I’ll be working with one of the best track coaches in America.’ ”
Scott isn’t the only former Hurricane who has found his way back to campus to work with Deem.
Dallas Cowboys receiver Allen Hurns also worked with her this past spring. And one of the first former Hurricanes football players to turn to Deem for speed training during his career was former Green Bay Packers and New York Jets tight end Bubba Franks.
Since Deem began working with Franks, there has been a steady stream of past and present NFLers, including Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and BenJarvus Green-Ellis making their way to her track. And Deem — who has led Miami’s track program for 27 years — has tried her best to accommodate as many of them as possible.
She makes it clear to each player that while she’s happy to help them train for running tests and OTAs and training camp, the Hurricanes’ track team remains her biggest priority. The NFL players’ workouts will revolve around the UM track team workouts, and they’ll have to plan accordingly when she travels for meets.
“When Robert calls me, I really try to accommodate him because he works with the best of the best in the NFL, not even just the athletes, but all the people that train them and get ready for the combine. I appreciate the fact that he trusts me enough with these guys to get stuff done,” Deem said. “I can’t commit to it 100 percent because there’s some weeks I’m gone three days a week. My team and recruiting are always my priority. But if I go out on my lunch hour or stay after practice on my time, it’s something I really enjoy. It’s a different aspect of speed development.”
The NFL players, Scott included, say the adjustments have been worth it.
“It’s not even just her resume and what she’s done,” Scott said. “Every time I work with her, she’s happy as hell. Being out here with her, she gives me energy. She loves to do this … When you’re playing football, you don’t even know how you’re running. You’re just going. She sees all the details and once she explains everything to you and you make changes, you start to feel the little muscles you need to work on. … My first week was awful, but now, I feel like I can run a lot more. I have more energy. She’s so supportive. You can’t beat it.”
Said Bailey: “For me, as an agent, I’m always looking for ways to give my athletes an edge and to have, at the time, the women’s Olympics track coach, their speed coach, literally in our community … I thought it was a good idea to start sending guys to her that really wanted to focus on getting faster, improving their speed, explosion and that’s what she taught them. That’s what she taught at the [2012] Olympics. … To have someone tell you how you can maintain your speed or get faster, that’s important.”
For Deem, the chance to work with past and present NFL players in addition to her schedule with the Hurricanes has been a refreshing change of pace. She notes that when athletes are driven to improve or seek out her help on their own, they’re often open to coaching and guidance.
And so, even while she helped guide Miami’s women’s track team to an ACC championship earlier this month and has helped 17 different Hurricane athletes earn a spot in this weekend’s NCAA East Preliminaries, Deem has likely kept up on how OTA workouts across the NFL have unfolded, particularly for Scott and Hurns.
“I’m really excited for Rashawn and Al,” Deem said. “I know Al is excited to go to Dallas and I enjoy being a tiny, tiny part of it for them. I got into coaching to make a difference and to me, if they come out one day and I give them some type of cue that helps them, then I feel like I’ve done my job.”
ccabrera@sunsentinel.com or Twitter @ChristyChirinos