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KEVIN DEVINE: Visits Chardon High, OH
Cleveland Brown corner back Kevin Devine met up with BFS President, Greg Shepard and Head Coach Bob Doyle to Put on a Successful Speed Clinic for Chardon High School.
By Greg Shepard
Published: Fall 1999
Chris Palmer, the new head football coach for the Cleveland Browns, came from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was the Jaguars' offensive coordinator the last two seasons. In his new role as the Brown's head coach, the 49-year-old Palmer wanted to bring one player. That player was Kevin Devine, the NFL's fastest player. Kevin is slated to be a starting corner back for the Browns this fall.
Bob Doyle, one of our BFS Clinicians, is the head football coach at Chardon High School located just east of Cleveland. I asked him if he would like Kevin to come and put on a Speed Clinic for his athletes. "Are you kidding," responded Doyle. "Our kids have seen his speed video and they would be absolutely thrilled if he could come."
Kevin and I discussed at length about all the ingredients in speed development. We also agreed that the speed clinics/camps that are being done at the present time leave out important areas of speed development. Many focus all their energy on what I call gimmicks. Many of these drills are fun and will improve speed but you must do all aspects of speed training to reach your absolute potential.
I look back to my early coaching days at Sehome High School in Bellingham, Washington. We had 1,400 students 9th through 12th and basically an all-white population. We had 50 football players that ran the forty between 4.5 and 5.0! And this was in l970! What did we do? Basically, we did the BFS strength program. We had exceptional leg strength from Parallel Squats. We had exceptional explosive power from Power Cleans. We also had exceptional technique as we practiced twice a week and timed everyone twice a month.
I asked Kevin what we should include for the perfect speed clinic/camp. We easily agreed. A total program for speed must include the following: Parallel Squats, Power Cleans and/or Power Snatches, Straight Leg Dead Lifts, Lunges and Glute-Ham Raises for strength and power. A complete speed and flexibility program must be followed daily. Both Plyometric and Speed drills should be done twice per week. Perfect technique should be learned along with video analyzation and athletes must be timed on a regular basis. The importance of nutrition must also not be overlooked.
All of these areas must be perfectly taught at the perfect speed clinic/camp. If an athlete or coach gains this knowledge, then amazing improvements can be achieved. For example, athletes running a 6.5 or slower should be able to improve a full second in a six-month period. Athletes in the 6.0 area should improve to a 5.2 time while athletes in the 5.5 or 5.6 range should be able to get a 5.0 time after six months of training. Those running 5.0 to 5.1 times can get down to 4.7 or 4.8. And those running in the 4.7 to 4.8 range most should be able to improve to 4.5 or 4.6. Those gifted athletes who are already at the 4.5 to 4.6 level can improve by one or even two tenths of a second. It does not take twenty different gimmicks. It takes a lot of hard, consistent, smart work that touches every base.
Kevin was great with the Chardon athletes. They hung on every word. He took the time to inspire and instruct. Kevin is a great example to kids in all areas. He was always a good student and has always stayed away from drugs and alcohol. After the clinic both Bob Doyle and I were so impressed with Kevin, we thought what if we combined our BFS Clinic knowledge with Kevin's insight on speed development, we would have a winner!
The result: Kevin and I are now working on three dynamite speed clinics. Tentative dates and sites are next February and March in the cities of Cleveland, Minneapolis and Denver. This would be the only total speed development clinic or camp where each athlete would participate fully in all aspects of speed development. It would be like our highly successful BFS Participation Clinics where all the equipment is furnished in order to have all coaches and athletes learn by doing. It is certainly an idea that is over due. Stay tuned for details.
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Kevin in action with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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Kevin speeking at Chardon, Ohio Clinic.
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BFS All-American Ben Chuha a 4.0 student is doing a pec stretch.
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Starting sophomore NG Luke Chuha on the Dot Drill. His best time is 48 seconds.
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Ben Chuha doing the Parallel Squat has done over 500 lbs.
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Chardon High School began the Speed Clinic day with a workout at 6:30 am.
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Freshman Adam Bihana, a 3 sport athlete with a 4.0 GPA, doing the Hip Flexor stretch.
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Kevin Devine shows is explosive power start. He also shows proper hand placement for the start. Both keys to developing his quick 4.2 forty speed.
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Hand placement for sprint start.
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Kevin with Mitch Hewitt: 1st team BFS All-American, Ohio Division II Defensive Player of the Year, 1944 yds rushing,, 288 points, 38 TD’s, 142 tackles, runner up to “Mr. Ohio Football” given to the state’s best football player.
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BFS All-Americans Ben Chuha and Mitch Hewitt working on the “start” with Kevin. A tremendous amount of talent, skill and intelligence on one line.
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BFS President Greg Shepard with Kevin Devine and highly successful Chardon High Head Football Coach and BFS Clinician Bob Doyle.
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“I want to be the first NFL player to break the 4.0 forty barrier.” Kevin Devine, Pro Footballs Fastest Player
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