130. Lessons from an NFL Strength Coach FT. Thomas Stallworth II

Sports Mastery

Thomas Stallworth is in his first season as the Giants’ assistant strength and conditioning coach. He shares his thoughts on:

1. What would you tell a young athlete (high school), with NFL aspirations how to approach the strength training process?

2. What aspects, outside of football do you think a young athlete should try and master as they work toward an NFL career?

3. What are your top 3 pieces of advice for the strength coach wanting to work at the NFL level? What is the major difference between collegiate strength & conditioning and NFL?

4. How do you approach leadership as a S & C Coach at the NFL level?

Stallworth came to the Giants from Western Kentucky University, where he spent the 2017 season as the football program’s head strength and conditioning coach. Prior to his stint at WKU, Stallworth spent one season as the head strength and conditioning coach at Fresno State University. Prior to Fresno State, Stallworth spent time at Texas Tech University after a season at North Carolina State. Stallworth was the associate strength and condition- ing coach for three seasons at Mississippi State. That included the best season in the program in 2014, when the Bulldogs rose to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll behind the play of quarterback Dak Prescott and earned their first Orange Bowl berth since 1941. While Stallworth was at Mississippi State University, 12 Bulldogs were drafted into the NFL, seven of them in the first three rounds, including 2012 Jim Thorpe Award winner Johnathan Banks and 2016 NFL second-team All-Pro Bernardick McKinney. From the 2015 N.C. State team Stallworth worked with, three players were drafted, including quarterback Jacoby Brissett and defensive tackle B.J. Hill, one of the Giants’ third-round choices this year. Stallworth previously worked as the head strength coach at FCS schools Grambling State (2008-11) and South Carolina State University (2004-08). One of his players at Grambling State was former Giants tight end Larry Donnell. Stallworth was a linebacker at the University of Tennessee from 1997-2001, a period in which the Volunteers played in five bowl games and won the 1998 national championship, 1997 and 1998 SEC championships. Stallworth earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management from Tennessee in 2001 before earning his masters from the school in sports administration in 2004. He is currently pursuing his doctorate degree in sport psychology and sports science from the University of the Rockies. Stallworth is married to the former Ingrid Garvin, and the couple has two children, India and Thomas III.