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Torre Becton discusses fastest, strongest players on Lawyers and Longhorns

Eric Nahlinby:Eric Nahlin•about 22 hours
Torre Becton
Torre Becton (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Texas strength and conditioning coach, Torre Becton, joined Texas benefactors Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin to discuss his career path, processes, philosophies of his program as well as the multiple hats he wears. Ever the fans, Arnold and Itkin couldn’t help but query about the fastest and strongest Texas players.

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Over the course of the 14 minute interview, it’s clear Becton has a strong handle on his profession. He discusses his emphasis on speed and mobility above all else.

He also mentioned, how they determine growth potential. Growth potential is extremely important because it informs how comfortably a player will move at his eventual size.

While many high school players are concerned with “putting on weight,” Becton confesses it’s much more about how well a player moves. That’s the first and foremost deciding factor of whether or not you’re a high level athlete.

“The first thing we want to look at is the genetic makeup of the player. We look at the anthro (anthropometry), as far as the shoulder width, the femur, the arm length, we want to look at the circumference of the knee, we want to look at their hand size and all these things tell us the growth potential. Once we get an indicator of how big we think the players can be we start the process of developing a plan that helps them maintain their movement skills. Most kids are going to come to a place like Texas, not because necessarily how big they look, and how strong they look, but how they move when we watch them play.”

This was probably the most useful segment of the show and it reminded me that when a coach shakes the hand of a prospect he’s actually sizing the prospect up. Texas wants big players who move well. Becton would go on to say he doesn’t believe more weight means less speed. Later, when asked who would run the best mile on the team, he laughs and said, “whoever we take in the mile run is probably somebody who wouldn’t make it on the field. That’s a struggle. I’ll take one of my guys on staff for the mile run.”

Before that Becton was asked who the fastest player on the team was. Knowing he was in dangerous political territory the question was altered to who he would comprise 4×100 team. “I’m gonna go Jaydon Blue, and this is no particular order they can figure out who the anchor is. I’m gonna go Jaydon Blue. I’m gonna go Silas Bolden. I’m probably gonna go Isaiah Bond. It’s a tossup, DeAndre Moore, Matthew Golden, it’s a lot of guys who could be that fourth guy. It’s probably six guys that could be that fourth leg.”

What about strongest Longhorns? “The strongest guy on the team right now, maybe David Gbenda, Jake Majors. Jake Majors, David Gbenda, one of those two guys. I think Jake gets him because of bench press so I say Jake Majors.

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The interview is worth your time. It comes across why Becton is such a popular guy amongst the players.

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