@Ethnicsands , it never ceases to amaze me of the number of people on this site who can’t answer simple questions.
warning: tl;dr
Unfortunately, most schools don’t develop. Like most sales people don’t sell, like most managers don’t manage — most coaches, S&C included, don’t coach. They’re ”coloring by numbers” and hoping for the best. Not necessarily incompetent, but not exactly capable either. Coaching is development. (Recruiting though part of a coaches job is not development — yet it’s brought up every time the topic turns to development.)
Development consists of two things: physical development and mental development. Physical development is measurable and should answer the question of whether the athlete is faster/stronger/more explosive. If they’re not, in comparison to high school, they haven’t been physically developed, or developed to the point to where they’re useful to the program.
Mental development is improving an “athletes IQ”. Recognizing patterns, play calls, balance, situations, weight shift, leverage, eyes and utilizing/overcoming/understanding them to your advantage. Richard Sherman was never the fastest corner, but he knew what to do — something developed athletes all share in common. Reading/watching Clemson talk about defense and they mention “eyes” and “eye discipline“ a thousand times … clearly they believe it’s taught and use 2/3-stars to prove it.
The issue: are these just self-directed and/or ”natural” athletes or are they coached/taught? Obviously the answer is both to an extent, but the prevailing sentiment of the board would imply that “you have to get the right kids” (which usually means better/higher starred kids that in essence do NOT have to be coached) — and I don’t believe that’s true. Any athlete can be made faster/stronger. Any. Every athlete can improve their “IQ”. Every. I’m NOT saying you can give every receiver Tyreek Hill speed or a Metcalfe body... but if kids are leaving your S&C after 3-5 years with similar numbers to when they arrived, then you’ve failed. If your OL can’t identify a blitz or your DL a screen, you’ve failed. If your LB constantly fall for miss direction or can’t defeat blocks, you’ve failed. If your QBs can’t run your offense? You’ve failed.
Your question. My belief: no. My standard for development is higher than “got drafted/made the practice squad”, My standard is significant contributor; they actually play in the NFL. And in the past 4 years Miami has produced very few of them (Temple, Buffalo and UCONN may have drafted more players in the top 4 rounds in the last 4 years than Miami. Hyperbole alert). Also (and this is important because every contributor isn’t going to make the league), have they improved physically/mentally on the college level? And from 3rd/4th year kids not being able to block/get a push, catch, tackle, defeat block, turn head or just understand situational football on a college level … Miami is middling — like **** near every other program in college football. Because a “developed” Miami, given the talent advantage Miami has over all ACC schools not named Clemson (with UNC on the way up and FSU on the way down, temporarily) would go 11-1, 12-0 every year had the kids been properly developed.
