Summer Workouts End With New Tradition: “Break The Rock”

At 5:45 a.m., Charlottesville is still dark and quiet on a sleepy summer morning. All that is about to change at the McCue Center, home of Virginia football.

That’s the appointed hour the Cavaliers come rolling in four times a week, but this day – Friday – was special, the beginning of a new tradition.

“Break the Rock,” is an idea that new UVa strength and conditioning coach Shawn Griswold (affectionately tagged “Griz” by his players) has carried with him from school to school, all the way from Arizona State to Charlottesville.

It would be an ideal way to end the grueling, summer-long workouts that consisted of weight lifting, agility drills, and running, simulating 72 plays or more that players could potentially face in live game situations this fall.

The rock is simple. It’s a square stone, painted black, with a series of mountains etched at the top, with mentions of the summer work, and but of course “Beat Tech” printed at the bottom. One lucky Cavalier would aim the black sledgehammer at the target and bust the rock to bits at the end of the session.

“It’s basically moving a mountain one rock at a time,” Griswold explained. “We always start with a summer rock. These kids grind every day. They start [lifting] at 6 a.m.”

Once the season arrives, a new rock will represent that week’s opponent. A win sets off a celebration and another bashing of the rock by another Wahoo player.

Griswold has a garage full of smashed rocks from other schools over the years, bits and pieces that remind him of milestones at other football programs, jagged edged rocks full of memories.

“Breaking a rock signifies that we’ve moved on to the next game,” he said. “It becomes a piece of pride. It becomes part of the fabric of who you are. I’m not a big gimmick guy, but the kids see [the rock] every day. Today’s kids are very visual.”

At 6 a.m. sharp, the morning silence was broken with the Cavaliers’ offensive players roaring down the hallway from the locker room to the weight room, where they would perform as many 225-pound bench press reps as they could as teammates urged them on in a wild frenzy of emotion. Then it was the defense’s turn.

From the weight room, they donned their cleats and raced to the George Welsh Indoor Facility for drills. At the end of the two-hour session, it was time to “Break the Rock.”

The honoree was senior wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, better known as simply “O,” to everyone in the program. A lot is riding on the speedy Zaccheaus this season, particularly after he set a UVa single-season record for receptions in 2017 with 85.

Surrounded by teammates, ‘O’ had earlier confided in teammate Juan Thornhill that he was a little nervous, not confident that he would have enough strength to complete the task. Zaccheaus let the weapon fly and smashed the rock to smithereens, then delivered a brief but inspiring message to his teammates that continued the “Beat Tech” mantra.

Griz could have selected any number of Cavaliers to take sledgehammer in hand, but picked Zaccheaus for a reason.

“Just based on work ethic, every day,” Griswold said. “O has really stepped out. I’m not saying he was shy before, but he’s really stepped into being a leader, a vocal guy. Guys listen to him.”

Zaccheaus, who stands 5-foot-8, 190 pounds, and as elusive as they come, not only leads vocally now, but by his actions. Dude squatted 500 pounds six times, as good as anybody in the country according to Griswold.

For a player of O’s physical stature, he’s impressive. Zaccheaus power cleaned 290 pounds three times on Thursday, [standing] broad jumped 10-3, vertical leaped 36-½ inches, all on tired legs.

Zaccheaus, a native of Plainfield, N.J., who played at St. Joseph’s Prep in Pennsylvania, said he’s in the best shape of his life thanks to Griswold’s conditioning plan. Griz features more football-related conditioning rather than just straight forward running, more plyometrics, change of direction stuff.

“Breaking the Rock,” was a special deal for Zaccheaus.

“It has been a big thing for Coach Griz in his career,” O said. “He came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to break the first rock, and that mean a lot to me. He’s all about collecting as many rocks for as many milestones as possible.

“It was really an honor for me to be the first person to break the rock here at Virginia,” Zaccheaus said. “I’m keeping this as a souvenir.”

“This,” was a good hunk of the stone he had just destroyed with a mighty swing. Teammates scrambled to get other bits and pieces as a constant reminder of how they had improved their strength and athleticism over the summer.

One of the players that scooped up a piece of rock was starting quarterback Bryce Perkins.

“When I was at Arizona State, I didn’t keep any rocks because I didn’t feel like I was a factor in any wins,” Perkins said. “This is my first rock that I’m keeping, and I want to keep collecting them and keep breaking them.”

Perkins, who signed with the Sun Devils out of high school, injured his neck in a freak accident that Griswold witnessed (“It was as freakish a thing as you’ll ever see,” Griz said). Doctors told Perkins his career was over, but the determined QB rehabbed, left ASU and not only played, but led Arizona Western Community College to the Junior College national championship game last season before transferring to Virginia.

Perkins arrived in December, but surprisingly Griswold wasn’t far behind. The coach applied for the job and was hired by UVa head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

Griz, who had texted Perkins to find out more about UVa’s program, arrived on Jan. 15, and immediately began to win over the Wahoos.

“[Mendenhall] texted me and asked me about Griz,” Perkins divulged. “I love Griz. He cares about you. I told [Mendenhall] that everybody is going to love Griz and everybody is going to get better and see results from his workout plans. From winter to now, you’re going to see a jump in people’s [measurable] numbers. I’m glad he’s here and that I get to spend the next two years with him.”

Perkins said he still talks to his former Arizona State teammates and they miss Griswold.

Ask just about any college football coach in the country and they’ll readily tell you that having the right strength and conditioning coach is invaluable because they are the coaches that spend the most time with players year around, and there better be a strong and confident bond.

“Trust,” Griswold said when replying to a question about building relationships with players. “Trust is earned every day. I’m lucky because I dropped into a foundation that had already been here for two years set by Coach Mendenhall and his staff. For me to drop in here, it’s not quite the same as when they got here and were trying to change the culture.”

One of the striking differences Griswold has noticed about Virginia’s program as opposed to some places he has been, is leadership.

“That’s really unique,” he said. “Most places, when a guy sulks, there are guys who go and corroborate with him. Here, [players] pull him out of it and they fix it.

“Sometimes I stand here baffled because that’s different,” Griswold said. “I’ve told [Mendenhall] a million times coming off the field, that it’s just a different group.”

Of course, Griswold was proud of what the team accomplished over the summer. Some of the linemen had great 225-pound reps.

And then, there was defensive back Juan Thornhill, who had 20 such reps, quite a lot for a DB.

“Juan is a freak,” Griswold said. “I don’t tweet very much, but Thursday I tweeted Juan’s 40-½ inch vertical jump. To jump that high is incredible. He had 11-feet and half inch on his [standing] broad jump. Juan is good in everything, lift, run, and jump. It’s hard to get guys that are good at everything across the board.”

Griz is big into measurables, same as the NFL, and something that Mendenhall, who is big on metrics, likes. That has been a big part of those two hitting it off.

“There’s a method to everything that we do,” Griswold said. “Feedback is a gift. If you’re a grayshirt, you’re a grayshirt. It’s not because you’re bad, it’s just where the numbers lay, and we need to move those numbers to be successful.

“All these kids want to be all-conference, all-Americans, and to play at the next level, but look at the [NFL] Combine,” Griswold said. “You have to be good at those [measurables] to get drafted or they knock you down. We’re trying to build a whole athlete, but at the same time on the field, off the field, academically, and in the community.”

“Break the Rock,” is only part of it, but if Griz has anything to do with it, the new tradition will be a big part of Virginia’s gridiron success in the future.