New Boise State strength coach brings high-tech approach to building a football player

Boise State nose tackle Scale Igiehon weighed 306 pounds as a sophomore in 2019.

He started trimming down last year and now weighs 286, and he looked lighter than ever on his feet Saturday while racking up a pair of sacks in the Broncos’ annual spring scrimmage. After the game, he was quick to credit new strength coach Reid Kagy and his staff with aiding in his transformation.

“It starts with our strength staff having us ready for the things we need to do on the field,” Igiehon told reporters on Saturday.

Preparing players to do what their specific position demands is at the core of Kagy’s strength and condition plan. Setting records in the weight room is not.

“(Players) didn’t come here to lift weights,” Kagy said. “It’s not that hard to make someone strong. We want to make sure we’re training football players and not just going in there to see how much we can bench press or squat.”

Kagy was hired as the Broncos’ strength coach in January. He spent the past two years at Oregon, where new Boise State head coach Andy Avalos was the defensive coordinator, and he replaced longtime strength coach Jeff Pitman, who followed former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin to Auburn.

Kagy’s approach to building a football player differs position by position, because the physical demands of each position vary. But what makes his strength and conditioning plan so effective is the technology his staff uses, players and coaches said.

They’re using GPS vests to chart acceleration, deceleration, force and the velocity at which players change direction, and they’re using radar guns to gauge exactly how fast players are moving.

“The coolest thing for us is speeds for these guys,” Kagy said. “Whatever information we can give these guys to quantify what we’re doing and then continue to check back and make sure we’re moving in the right direction, I think it’s awesome. It just gives them that extra buy-in.”

Kagy wouldn’t say who is the fastest player on the team, but he said pretty much all of the defensive backs and wide receivers have posted impressive times. He also mentioned freshman quarterback Taylen Green as one of the fastest guys on the roster.

Kagy worked with much of the same GPS technology as an assistant strength coach at Oregon and was first exposed to it in the same role at Iowa State. He said it’s just another tool to aid in achieving his mission, which is to help prepare players to achieve their goals.

“ ... I was brought here to serve them,” he said. “We have like interests and we’re working toward a common goal, and it all starts with relationships.”

No matter what skill players are honing, Kagy said another essential tenet of his approach is to explain each drill and how it relates to their position.

“There’s that much more buy-in when these guys understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it,” Kagy said. “When you get that buy-in and trust, it’s so much more powerful than just telling somebody to do something because they have to.”

Conditioning pays off for Broncos

Igiehon wasn’t the only player who looked a step better on Saturday. The defensive linemen all looked explosive while racking up five of the team’s seven sacks, none of the freshmen and redshirt freshmen who lined up at cornerback looked physically overwhelmed, and running back George Holani looked even more difficult to tackle than he has in the past.

“It’s a fresh start, and that’s what everybody is really having fun with,” senior nickel Kekaula Kaniho said. “Everybody looks forward to being there in the facility every day, working with each other to get better.”

Kagy came to Boise State with an impressive resume, which included stops at Cincinnati, Iowa State and Ohio State, which is where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He transferred to Ohio State after spending two years on the football team at Mount Union, where he was a member of the 2008 Division III national championship team.

These days, he can barely fit into the department-issued Boise State polo he wears when he isn’t in the weight room in his usual sweatshirt and shorts. The sleeves are stretched to their limit in an attempt to cover his biceps, and Kagy told reporters on Monday that he can bench press about 450 pounds.

That wasn’t always the case, though.

Once upon a time, he was a 160-pound high school football player, who admits he wasn’t blessed with the kind of natural athleticism that regularly shows up on highlight reels. But he found solace in the weight room, and while becoming a self-proclaimed meathead, he discovered a career path.

“I always found my place in the weight room,” Kagy said. “I think I always wanted to work in athletics, and to have the opportunity to work with these guys and help them realize their goals, it’s one of those things where you pinch yourself every day when you wake up.”

Note: Kagy mentioned Holani, Igiehon, defensive lineman Scott Matlock and safety Tyreque Jones as players who have impressed him in the weight room this spring. He also mentioned linebacker Tyler Visser, who joined the Broncos last year after transferring from Sierra College.

Visser is from Meridian, where he earned second-team All-Idaho honors in 2017 as a senior at Rocky Mountain High. He saw action in 11 games in two years at Sierra and appeared on special teams in four games last season for Boise State.