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RBs Howard, Deering Key To Offense

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By KATHERINE SMITH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

TAMPA - Antwoun Howard and Jeremy Deering observed a Pilates class and figured participating would be a piece of cake.

Two football players should be able to handle a series of stretches and balance moves, right?

"It looked easy and I thought this isn't even going to work us out," Howard said. "But you sweat more than you do when you run.

"It's hard, really hard."

And a necessity for Leto players, most of which have to play both ways because of a lack of numbers on the football team. Howard's and Deering's bread and butter position is running back, but they also pull double duty as defensive backs.

"I take a lot pride in it because there's not a lot of guys that can play both ways," Howard said. "It's playing for almost a full hour during games sometimes."

That's where the offseason conditioning and workouts, which included Pilates for the first time, will come into play and hopefully make the duo, which will make up the bulk of Leto's offense, better.

"We've been working harder in the weight room too," Deering said. "Because what you put in is what you get out of it."

Coach Hugh Dehnert hopes to get more production out of his offense. Last season, Deering led the team with 128 carries for 705 yards and four touchdowns. He also led the team with 14 receptions for 160 yards.

Howard was second on the team with seven receptions for 156 yards and two touchdowns. But the Falcons averaged only 12 points a game last year and scored in double digits four times.

"Hopefully they will make us more explosive on offense than we were last year," Dehnert said. "We struggled a bit offensively for a wide variety of reasons.

"But I think with these two, and the condition they are in, it will make us more explosive."

Leto players don't get many breaks during games, so Dehnert runs a fast-tempo practice to try to simulate the pace of a game. He also makes players run a lot of gassers in an attempt to build up their conditioning.

The workouts have produced noticeable results for both Deering and Howard. Deering, who is drawing some Division I interest, has added some muscle to his 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame, while Howard feels the difference on the football field.

"When I catch the ball, I can turn it up quicker," Howard said. "I've got a lot of flexibility in my hips and I can get off the line quicker."

All of the additional work hopefully will pay off with more wins this season for the Falcons. It's been nearly 10 years since Leto has made the postseason.

Deering and Howard want to play a part of changing that this year.

"We feel like we've done something here at Leto," Deering said. "We've worked hard and the outcome is getting better.

"It feels like we're going somewhere and it makes us work even harder."

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