Priority: Speed

New Coastal football strength coach Brian Gabriel has one priority for offseason workouts: speed.

"Speed is the equalizer to all things," said Gabriel, who has focused on speed enhancement with Coastal baseball for the last several seasons. "It's the thing in every sport that separates people. Football-wise even for offensive and defensive linemen, if you're fast -- if you're explosive, because I don't want to use fast -- you're going to win the majority of the battles, because you're going to hit first. He who hits first, hits fastest.

"I do no distance running. Everything I do is built on sprints and built on speed."

Gabriel sees an overall lack of explosion throughout the program and plans to make that an emphasis this summer. Skill players and linemen will get plenty of work in that area. Coastal had every player in the program run a 40-yard dash earlier this spring, and though the elements were against them, only a handful broke 4.7.

Even though this is FCS football, those types of numbers are pretty lousy. Still, Gabriel doesn't really care what his guys are doing in the 40. He wants them to all get more explosive over a 10-yard span this summer, citing the lack of plays in which they'll actually run 20-plus yards.

Linemen will also get plenty of conditioning and strength work as the Chants try to slim down in the trenches. Many of the Chanticleers are much too heavy, especially along offensive line, to run the schemes that first-year line coach Patrick Covington, an Air Force disciple, wants to install.

"If we've got an OL at 320, it would be really nice for him to play at 300 or 290," Gabriel said. "The days of the linemen that are 320 are over. It's an athletic game. The old Redskins and Cowboys days are done. Those days are gone."

Gabriel wants all his players to have a better understanding of what shape they need to be in. Some players need to gain weight. Others need to lose. However, he won't order them to be at a specific number, because when that happens, he finds that athletes tend to do it incorrectly. For example, players that need to gain weight, each poorly, and players that need to lose weight, stop eating.

The Chants can expect a much different offseason atmosphere than they've had in the past.

"There is no such thing as you can come on your on time," Gabriel said. "No. We're being committed. It's as simple as that."

"Speed is the equalizer to all things," said Gabriel, who has focused on speed enhancement with Coastal baseball for the last several seasons. "It's the thing in every sport that separates people. Football-wise even for offensive and defensive linemen, if you're fast -- if you're explosive, because I don't want to use fast -- you're going to win the majority of the battles, because you're going to hit first. He who hits first, hits fastest.

"I do no distance running. Everything I do is built on sprints and built on speed."

Gabriel sees an overall lack of explosion throughout the program and plans to make that an emphasis this summer. Skill players and linemen will get plenty of work in that area. Coastal had every player in the program run a 40-yard dash earlier this spring, and though the elements were against them, only a handful broke 4.7.

Even though this is FCS football, those types of numbers are pretty lousy. Still, Gabriel doesn't really care what his guys are doing in the 40. He wants them to all get more explosive over a 10-yard span this summer, citing the lack of plays in which they'll actually run 20-plus yards.

Linemen will also get plenty of conditioning and strength work as the Chants try to slim down in the trenches. Many of the Chanticleers are much too heavy, especially along offensive line, to run the schemes that first-year line coach Patrick Covington, an Air Force disciple, wants to install.

"If we've got an OL at 320, it would be really nice for him to play at 300 or 290," Gabriel said. "The days of the linemen that are 320 are over. It's an athletic game. The old Redskins and Cowboys days are done. Those days are gone."

Gabriel wants all his players to have a better understanding of what shape they need to be in. Some players need to gain weight. Others need to lose. However, he won't order them to be at a specific number, because when that happens, he finds that athletes tend to do it incorrectly. For example, players that need to gain weight, each poorly, and players that need to lose weight, stop eating.

The Chants can expect a much different offseason atmosphere than they've had in the past.

"There is no such thing as you can come on your on time," Gabriel said. "No. We're being committed. It's as simple as that."