There is a strong contingent of coaches out there that swear by the effectiveness of mat drills. Going beyond the typical weight room work outs, not only are mat drills typically a great, intense workout, but they're also built to help forge mentally tough teams while also creating bonds among teammates.
When 5AM rolls around down at Miami, the equipment staff are busy setting up mat drills, and the players are starting to roll into the locker room, and that's where mat drills start at The U. Richt provided an explanation of their approach to mat drills at Miami in a video that the 'Canes recently rolled out
"Mat drills are drills, done on a mat, that have to be done just right. The drills themselves are not that scientific, or anything that's new, but how we go about doing it is important."
"The mat drills start in the player locker room, everybody is in uniform. Once everyone is ready, and they're all on time, then they all enter the room the same. Then they'll run to the center and they'll all sit down in perfect rows and perfect columns. They're all going to sit a certain way, with their hands a certain way, and they're going to listen to what we have to say."
"The goal is for everyone to do it right, for everyone to do it hard, and if you don't you've got to do it again. So it's about the details of the drills, but it's also about the details of football and the details of life in general," Richt explained. "Get in the habit of doing it right. There are no details too small that need to be effective."
Richt closes with the big picture in mind.
"It's a team building exercise. When you go through something tough together, and you have to count on each other to have success, that's huge, and everyone has bought into that.