During the offseason, Hoag spent a lot of time working to improve his speed and conditioning at the Wide World of Sports in Orlando. (Photo © Rick A. Kolodziej/MN Vikings)
Gustavus alumnus Ryan Hoag is excited to become an elementary school teacher, but not until he pursues his dream of being an NFL football player for the Minnesota Vikings. Hoag’s spent training camp 2006 with the Vikings after completing an intensive personal-training program to increase his speed and strength. The following, Aug. 12, 2006, Sid Hartman Star Tribune article shares this story. It has been reprinted with permission.
Former Gustavus star Hoag speeds up to impress Vikings
Sid Hartman, Star Tribune
Vikings wide receiver Ryan Hoag was a great all-around athlete at Washburn High School and a All-America track athlete and A student at Gustavus Adolphus.
Now, for the fourth time in four years, the wide receiver — honored as “Mr. Irrelevant” as the last player drafted in 2003 — is trying to earn a roster spot on the Vikings.
During the offseason, Hoag spent a lot of time working to improve his speed and conditioning at the Wide World of Sports in Orlando, where a guy named Tom Shaw, who was Deion Sanders’ former track coach at Florida State, has trained athletes for more than 15 years.
Reggie Bush, the great Southern Cal running back now with the New Orleans Saints, was one of many great players working there. It’s also where Hoag got to know Vikings rookie quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who like Bush was among a group of NFL prospects working there this past winter.
“Speed is [Shaw’s] mantra. He works a lot on getting you faster,” said Hoag, who with a time of 4.3 seconds in the 40-yard dash is one of the fastest players in Vikings training camp. “He has got a real good weight program too. Basically, he just puts you in an environment where we’re competing with guys of our same skill levels.”
Hoag said the time with Shaw has paid off because many Vikings teammates had mentioned to him how much he has improved his speed.
The Florida camp got so tough that Hoag ended up at the hospital once needing a couple of IVs because of how dehydrated he was.
“I see this as potentially my last opportunity to, quite honestly, to make the team,” Hoag said. “That’s why I went down to Tom Shaw as kind of a, “Well, if I’m going to go out, I’m going to go out swinging.’ I am further along than I ever have been at this point in my career, coming into an August.
“It’s night and day compared to ’03 at the Raiders, ’04 with the Vikings and last year with the Vikings. I’m injury free. I’m healthy. I’m weighing about 205, which is probably eight pounds more than I was a month ago. I’m as fast as I’ve ever been. And mentally as strong as I’ve ever been.”
How tough it is to be released time after time?
“It’s a true testament to patience. And patience is something that any real competitive person struggles with,” he said. “It has been very trying on me. At times you question whether or not this is the right thing for you, especially considering I’m as proud as my academic All-America status as Gustavus and being a future first-grade teacher, as I am of being an NFL player. I’m the type that’s never satisfied until I attain my goals. My goal is not just to make it or just to get drafted. It was to be a solid, contributing member on NFL football team.”
It’s not my job to advise young athletes what to do. But in Hoag, whom I know well, I see an athlete who some day could be president of a big company because of his intelligence and personality. Maybe if he doesn’t make it this time, it might be a good idea at 25 years of age to get started on that great off-the-field career.