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Epps: McClendon’s lifting amazes even the pros
Imagine Kansas coach Mark Mangino and Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen piling on top of you. Chest cavity? Gone.
Jacques McClendon lifts them into the air. Spins them around on his finger. Tosses them aside.
OK, not really. But he could probably bench press Mangino and one of Friedgen’s legs. Seriously. McClendon, Tennessee’s right guard and a former Baylor School standout, bench pressed 645 pounds this offseason and set a school record. That is insane.
The first time I did five reps of 195 pounds on the bench, I texted the girl I was dating at the time in excitement. McClendon does that with one arm while texting the girl he’s dating. He can lift the weight capacity of some elevators.
Let’s get some perspective on this feat.
“That,” says Bryan Hayworth, who organizes Tennessee’s top bodybuilding shows, “is pretty impressive.”
Cameron Russell, the head speed and strength coach at D1 Chattanooga, met McClendon but does not know him personally. He calls McClendon, who weighs 320 pounds, a “genetic freak” and means it in a nice way.
“If he doesn’t make it in football, he could go to the Olympic training center in Colorado and become a power lifter,” Russell said. “I’ve seen football players do 545 pounds, 565 pounds. But I’m speaking about grownups. Jacques is only 20.”
More perspective: 645 pounds is the equivalent of 21 cinder blocks, about 22 empty kegs, almost one-fourth of a 2003 Honda Civic, 430 boxes of Lucky Charms, 574 pillows and three-fourths of Terrell Owens’ head.
McClendon can compete on the powerlifting circuit right now. Scot Mendelson, without any assistance or the aid of equipment (called “raw”), holds the bench-press record with 715 pounds. He weighed 314 pounds at the time.
There are, and I’m not even kidding, non-drug-tested and drug-tested records. The all-time equipped bench press record is an absolutely ludicrous 1,070 pounds by Ryan Kennelly (someone sent me the video). He tried 1,085 pounds and failed (wimp!).
McClendon is just a student playing college football.
“A lot of that is genetics,, and he’s probably been weight training a long time,” Russell said. “He knows how to lift properly. He’s got a lot more muscle mass to play with. If you tested his muscles, it would be different than most guys. His muscles would have different angles. A kid like that is a genetic freak.
“For 645 pounds, you would need three spotters — two on the outside and one behind you. No one man could get that weight off himself. And that bar is going to bend just like you would see on the cartoon ‘Popeye.’”
And to think, Tennessee fans: this man will be protecting your quarterback. And that’s the question — does McClendon’s incredible lift matter when he’s attempting to thwart the rush of a 275-pound defensive lineman? Well, it certainly can’t hurt.
“On the field,” Russell said, “that translates into pancaking people.”
My first thought after reading Wes Rucker’s story was McClendon’s heroic fumble recovery against South Carolina last season, which is even more impressive considering the amount of muscle mass he’s carrying around. He’s still got flexibility. McClendon, Tennessee fans will certainly remember, sprinted 15 yards and recovered Arian Foster’s fumble with 46 seconds remaining in the game.
If McClendon doesn’t recover the ball, Tennessee never reaches the SEC title game and poor Foster is probably still catatonic. Imagine that.
Also, imagine being the football McClendon pounced on.
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