In the Navy, they call it Top Gun. In the NIU weight room, they call it…Top Dog.

The Top Dog award goes to the strongest player on the NIU football team in terms of how much he can bench press compared to his own weight. The prize total also includes the amount the Huskie can squat and clean.

For the second straight year, 211-pound junior fullback Adam Dach is the 1990 Top Dog. Dach’s best squat of the season was 605-pounds. The durable fullback bench-pressed a hefty 360 and cleaned 330.

“Adam became the first player in NIU history to score over 1800 points for strength index this year which is really excellent for his weight, said NIU strength and conditioning coach Jim Zeilinski.”

The Top Dog runner-up was senior split-end Mark Clancy. The 5-9, 163-pounder with just 3.8 per cent body fat bench-pressed 303 pounds and squatted 425 pounds.

Even though Dach and Clancy are considered the two strongest on the team in comparison to their weight, junior defensive tackle Eric White actually bench-pressed the most weight. The 250-pound defensive tackle lifted a team-high 429 pounds, the highest total since Zielinski himself benched an NIU record 500 pounds when he played for the Huskies in 1984.

Upper-body strength isn’t all coaches look for. Defensive back Earl Upton and halfback Tyrone Isaac can flat get up. The two have 37-inch vertical jumps. Without taking any steps.

Quarterback Stacey Robinson isn’t far behind either. The 6-1 senior has a 36 and one-half inch vertical, not to mention 4.53 speed and a 325-pound bench press.

Zielinski coordinates all of the Huskies’ strength and conditioning programs. Over the summer, the players that stayed on campus worked out with the coach at 6 a.m. or 7 p.m. The early morning workouts included a running program followed by lifting or only lifting in the evening. The guys that went home took Zielinski’s program with them and corresponded with the coach throughout the summer.

“They hate me and they love me,” Zielinski said. “But the guys really believe in the program and it’s a lot easier to work out when they really know they have the opportunity to be great this year.”

All of the conditioning seems to be paying off for the Huskies in the eyes of Head Coach Jerry Pettibone.

“You can tell they came back in good condition because it has been a real physical fall camp,” said Pettibone. “There has been more contact work and with the real hard conditioning in the last two weeks—the guys are in great shape.”

Since the beginning of fall camp, the upperclassmen have been doing a 20-minute maintenance program along with a lifting program, while the freshmen participate in a one hour strength development program four days a week.

“It’s a structured program for the in-season and the off-season,” Zielinski said. “The guys know it will help them to get the extra edge on the guy across from them.

“Every year I test the guys when they get back in camp and there is no doubt they’ve become bigger and stronger and are probably in the best shape they’ve ever been in.”