Editor's note: Building highly successful athletics programs requires many facets. In this "Auburn Builds Champions" series, we will profile eight Auburn Athletics coaches and support staff members and their keys to success. In part eight, we focus on Ryan Russell, the director of strength and conditioning for football, and his pursuit to develop athletes on and off the field.
AUBURN, Ala. – At Auburn, the walk from the locker room to the weight room is a short one. You go through a hallway lined with NFL helmets, walk down some steps, and then just as you're about to enter the weight room, there's a sign above you that reminds you what you're walking into and why it's so important.
"The Factory: Great athletes aren't born. They're developed."
"When we go downstairs, it's not a weight room," Auburn linebacker Deshaun Davis said. "It's a factory. When we cross those doors, we put our hard hat on and we're going to work. If you're a long snapper or a quarterback or a linebacker, you need to be doing your best to make sure our finished product is what it should be."
When you enter the weight room, it's blue collar. It's punching your ticket and clocking in on time. It's putting on that hard hat and going to work even when nobody is watching.
The walk from the locker room might not be a long one, but it's one that players sometimes dread – especially the younger ones. But there's been a culture created at Auburn, an expectation that has been handed down from class to class. This is all they know now. It's work, hard work
The man behind all of it? Ryan Russell, the director of strength and conditioning.
Russell grew up in California, the son of a baseball coach who made strength and conditioning a priority during the offseason. He went on to play three years of football at West Liberty University in West Virginia, and that led him to a short career in the Arena Football League with the Las Vegas Gladiators and the Louisville Fire.
While playing for the Fire, Russell finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Louisville and took part in an internship with their strength and conditioning team.
"The first day I was on the floor there – the energy, the enthusiasm, how hard guys were training – I knew that's what I wanted to do," he said.
Russell took part in another internship at Pitt in 2005 before coming to Auburn as a graduate assistant coach in 2005-06. He's bounced around some over the years, coaching at Boise State for three years and following Gus Malzahn to Arkansas State for one season, but he found his way back to Auburn where he's headed the strength and conditioning program for football since 2013.
The ultimate goal has never changed, though. It's about player development, on and off the field.
"I think so much of what myself and my staff do is help build these guys for life and help them become champions," Russell said. "A lot of that has to do with helping them become the best versions of themselves. Before they ever become the best football player and best athlete they can be, they've got to be the best versions of themselves that they can be to really reach their full athletic potential."
For Russell and his staff, that means coming in at 5:30 in the morning for workouts. That means spending the summer in the weight room with the players. That means working one-on-one with certain guys to help them become bigger, faster and stronger. He might not always be the players' favorite person when they're going through it, but there's an appreciation that comes after.
"When people see Coach Russell, they kind of see a tough, intense strength coach," Davis said. "He runs you so much, you want to be mad at him sometimes. But besides the fact that he's one of the best strength coaches in the country, he's a great person.
"You can tell that he loves each and every one of our players down there genuinely. It doesn't matter if you're a Heisman Trophy winner or a Butkus Award winner or a walk-on that just happened to put on a jersey, you're going to be coached like you're going to play a 100 snaps on Saturday. You can tell he really loves his job. He's not in it for the money. He has fun doing what he's doing."
Devaroe Lawrence was one of those players that initially dreaded the walk from the locker room to the weight room. The former defensive lineman would go about his day – wake up, eat breakfast, go to class – but when it came time for workouts, he was scared to walk through that hallway. There were times, his first year at Auburn, that he'd fall out of the workout altogether.
"My thing, it wasn't really lifting. It was conditioning," Lawrence said. "So I'll lift, but once you took us out there and put the cleats on, my mind was already gone. All you think about is how many I've got or what's the time or how much is the break time."
Eventually, though, it started to click for Lawrence. As a junior and senior, he knew what to expect. He knew what he wanted. It was mind over matter.
So he began to bulk up and add muscle while not losing his quickness and also building up endurance. He became a fixture in the defensive line rotation his last two years at Auburn, and though he never was a full-time starter, his efforts led to a free-agent contract with the New Orleans Saints out of college.
Now, fans might not even recognize Lawrence if they were to see him. He was back in the Auburn weight room this summer, and it was clear he got over that initial trepidation of working out.
"For me, it's like I come in and have a good lift," Lawrence said. "Or I come in and have a good run. By the time Tuesday or Thursday hits, what can I do to come in and either do the same or be better the next go-around? The days you don't feel like doing it, how can you max it out? How can I get everything that I need to get? Those are your better days – the days you don't feel like doing it. That's when you find out really how bad you want it.
"That's Coach Russell right there. That's all Coach Russell. It just lets you know how much of an impact he's got and how much he sticks with you even after you're gone.
The summer is almost over. Fall camp begins a week from Friday. The players are looking forward to putting the pads back on and hitting each other again. In just 38 days, they will be delivering those hits against their first opponent, Washington, in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game. But the work in "The Factory" is not done. It will continue on like clockwork, grinding day in and day out.
The games are what you look forward to, players and fans alike. They're what you remember. But it's the extra work with Russell in the weight room and on the practice field that leads to success on the field. It's the extra work that helps you take that next step as a player.
Because what's the motto say? Great athletes aren't born. They're developed.
"Let's make no mistake about it," Russell said. "It's not easy. It's tough. This is hard stuff that they do. The daily grind of their schedule in summer for these guys is crazy. They don't get a break from academics or anything. So it is a grind, but it is going to make them better. Not only athletes, but better people as well. They're going to be rewarded for it in the long run.
"That's the good thing about it. If they can do this, they're going to be successful in life outside of here, too. That's what it's all about for us down here – helping these become the best versions of themselves and be built for life when they leave this place."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
AUBURN BUILDS CHAMPIONS SERIES
Part 1: Staffing key to Auburn baseball success
Part 2: Greg Williams' vision produces championships for Auburn equestrian
Part 3: Lauren Spencer prepares student-athletes for life after tennis
Part 4: Soccer's Karen Hoppa develops winning culture
Part 5: Teamwork, technology transform Auburn soccer
Part 6: Serving others a top priority for sports medicine staff
Part 7: Nutrition fuels Tigers