Late April is a tough time for football fans. Only so many mock drafts can be made before you start to get antsy for some on-the-field action. There are still four months until NMSU hosts Wyoming to officially kick off the 2018 season, making it hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but any success the Aggies hope to have next season starts right now with the offseason strength and conditioning program.

Head coach Doug Martin talked about how physically prepared the team looked throughout spring practice in March, and a lot of that credit can go to the strength staff led by Director of Sports Performance Don Decker.

As the head strength coach, Decker is tasked with developing a training program that with get the most out of the athletes from a physical standpoint, but has been instrumental in player development in a multi-faceted way.

“I do think that coach Martin would tell you that this is a place where mental toughness is developed and he feels very strongly about this place helping from an injury reduction standpoint in addition to us giving our kids a chance from an athletic standpoint,” Decker said, addressing the importance of the offseason training process. “ I’d say that strength and conditioning is one spoke on the wheel… there isn’t any one part that’s more important than the other but you need all of them to be strong and function.”

Players have benefited tremendously from what Decker and his strength staff have done for the program, making them the best possible athlete they can be when they step on the field.

“They’ve really helped me transition into their program and have worked with my injuries to get me to where I’m at now. I’m probably the healthiest and strongest I’ve ever been and I think it’s because of how we lift here,” redshirt freshman wide receiver Gaven Swinson said when asked about how helpful the strength and conditioning program has been. “We’re hungry and more motivated to have that success again and they work with that really well.”

With over 25 years of experience under his belt, the Board of Directors of the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association member is one of the best in the business at what he does, but that doesn’t stop Decker or his staff from adopting new practices in an attempt to be more effective.

Instead of the traditional set-up where it’s eight weeks focusing on strength, then spring practice, then a few more weeks before summer, NMSU has broken it up so that there’s a five-week period before spring practices, which starts pretty early compared to the rest of the country because of the beautiful New Mexico weather, then the final six weeks of the year going on right now can be dedicated solely to building strength.

“I’ve never done it the way we’ve done it last year and the way we’re doing it this year, but what I’ve liked about [this new program] is that we kind of get two off-seasons,” Decker said. “That first five weeks, even though we have to do both and try to get stronger while we’re those early morning workouts, we’ve taken [splitting the focus] as a challenge and around 60 percent of our guys are still hitting their best number during that time. Then when we go through spring practice and get those six weeks on the back end where we’ll probably have close to 90 percent of our guys hit their personal best, which really sets us up for the summer.”

Gains like that are obviously a good sign, but what makes it even more impressive is that they’re being made after one of the most successful seasons in the football program’s history — something that has been a challenge as much as it is a motivator.

“Any time you have success, it’ll help because the buy-in is so much bigger. It definitely helps create a confidence in the system that we’ve put together,” Decker said. “Honestly though, the one thing that success can do, regardless of the 57 years, is get content with where you are. All that’s 2017, but now we have to create 2018 so we’ve kind of had to overcome that a little.”

As mentioned, we’re still quite a ways away from seeing that product on the field, but the apparent success of the strength and conditioning program going on right now gives plenty of reasons to be excited for the 2018 season that just can’t come soon enough.