Aug. 28--BLACKSBURG -- Nick Marshman realized the seriousness of his weight problem about a year and a half ago. An offensive lineman at Virginia Tech, Marshman was used to looking down and seeing his gut hang over his belt. Being cartoonishly large, after all, has long been a routine part of life for most college linemen.
But when his mother, Janet, was renewing the family's health insurance plan, the insurance company rejected Nick, who weighed about 355 pounds, because he was too fat for his height and age. He had to go through Tech to receive coverage.
"That really opened my eyes that you can't be that heavy," he said.
Marshman's heft made him a liability at right tackle last year. Midway through the year, he moved inside to left guard, a more natural position for him because it values size over speed. Marshman, a senior, weighed 363 pounds in May, and though he was, and still is, the Hokies' heaviest player, some of their other offensive linemen also weighed too much.
The line was the main reason why Tech allowed 54 sacks last season, tied for third-most in the country, and why the Hokies rushed for just 133.6 yards per game. Aside from their 113.4 rushing yards per game in 2006, it was their lowest average since 1972. They have averaged fewer than 200 rushing yards in four consecutive seasons for the first time since 1988-91.
"We knew we were too big," line coach Curt Newsome said.
So after spring practice, Newsome and Tech's strength and conditioning staff singled out eight players who had 30 percent or higher body fat. Five of them were offensive linemen, and three of those were starters: Marshman, junior right guard Sergio Render and senior center Ryan Shuman.
Four days a week during the summer, those players reported to Lane Stadium at 6:30 a.m. and walked up and down the steps, most often under the supervision of Keith Short, a strength and conditioning assistant and former Tech center. Marshman's weight dropped from 363 to 339, Shuman's from 313 to 293. Render, who weighed around 330 at points last season, is down to 308.
Their fitness and experience -- the only starter the line lost was left tackle Duane Brown -- have the linemen optimistic that they can be a steady influence on an offense searching for consistent threats at tailback and wide receiver.
"We all see now that we need to keep [the weight] off," Marshman said. "We're moving a lot better. We're all getting out to the flat on linebackers a lot better."
For the stair workouts, the linemen walked about three-quarters of the way up the stadium's East side, then back down. They snaked down the length of the East side and back in about 30 minutes.
Short said the walks motivated the linemen to go to bed earlier, which prevented them from eating late-night snacks that pack on pounds. He weighed them every morning, and if a player reached the goal weight that the coaching staff set for him, he didn't have to walk the stairs anymore -- unless he later weighed in above his goal.
Shuman walked the stairs for two weeks and lost about five pounds to reach his goal. He continued cutting weight by eating healthier, which kept him off those stairs. "The longer I kept doing it, my appetite suppressed to a point where I didn't have to eat that much, and it just melted off," he said. Now, his knees are less stiff after practice.
Marshman hadn't passed his preseason conditioning test for the past two seasons. The test requires him to run 110 yards in 15 seconds and do it 16 times, with a 45-second break between each run. After about seven reps last year, "he would just lay on the ground," Short said.
Marshman finished the test this year, thanks in part to a diet that includes smaller portions and less fast food. He has always loved white bread, but after consulting team nutritionist Amy Freel, he switched to "white wheat" bread, which tastes like white but has the health benefits of wheat bread.
Even Marshman's family sees a difference. His mom, a nurse, noticed that his face looks leaner -- a significant transformation from last season. During the spring, when Marshman watched film from last season, he thought, "I just looked like a huge toad." But now, when he analyzes practice footage from this preseason, he said, "I even look smaller on the screen."
Contact Darryl Slater at (804) 649-6026 or .
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