POWER BALL
OSU running backs creating buzz with weightlifting videos
STILLWATER — Justin Phillips has seen things in practice, but he isn’t going to name names.
“I’m not gonna throw anybody under the bus,” Oklahoma State’s senior linebacker said with a smile.
Maybe he figures getting plowed by one bus is enough for some of his teammates who have found themselves on the wrong end of a one-on-one with a Cowboy running back.
“I’ve seen ‘em put some blocks on, and run a lot of people over,” Phillips said.
The Twitter timeline of Gary Calcagno, the assistant to OSU strength and conditioning genius Rob Glass, is proof enough that you don’t want to be caught alone in a running lane opposite Justice Hill or J.D. King.
Last summer, it was a video of Hill’s weight room exploits that went viral, and the Tulsa native followed it up with an All-Big 12 season.
Over the last week, Calcagno has been popping out videos of King, the 5-foot-11, 214-pound sophomore, doing ridiculous things in the weight room. The first one, which showed a power clean of 385 pounds, made it all the way to ESPN’s SportsCenter. On Monday, Calcagno shared a video of King doing it again, with another 20 pounds on the bar.
Another video showed up of Hill — who says he weighs about 205, up from 190 last season — squatting 405 pounds after running stadium stairs.
Then redshirt freshman Chuba Hubbard got in on the party, too.
While Hill might be built to handle a bigger workload, he might not have to. King and LD Brown combined for 133 carries last season, and Hubbard was on the shelf as a redshirt — taking advantage of that weight program to bulk up from 190 to 207.
So the Cowboys already have the best returning back in the Big 12, and they probably have the deepest roster of runners, too.
Of course, it’s yardage, not squat numbers, by which running backs are measured.
We’ve all seen what Hill can do in that department, rushing for 1,467 yards and 15 touchdowns on 268 carries — all Big 12 bests last season.
Now, he’s added extra weight to take the pounding of the nearly 300 total touches he had as a sophomore, while maintaining the elusiveness that made him so special.
“I’m just trying to get bigger, faster and stronger,” Hill said. “Coach Glass gives me some good workouts. I do those, and then do extra. Then I work on my game, work on cuts, work on receiving.
“I just do the workouts, eat what I’m supposed to eat, and the weight comes. I still look good, so I don’t think it’s any bad weight.”
Already selected to the preseason watch lists for the Maxwell and Doak Walker awards, Hill is working his way up the Cowboy record books, too.
And his coach thinks Hill could be even better this time around.
“In your third year, it’s really a year you can just go out — if you’re as talented as he is — to just relax and play,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “I would expect to see that from him.”