Texas Tech All-America Free Safety
PRAGY SAUL By Dr. Greg Shepard Tracy Saul is an enigma at 6-0 185 pounds. He doesn’t realize that he’s a free safety, so he keeps on trying to be a strong as a defensive lineman. I mean, the man Bench Presses 360 pounds and Parallel Squats 540 Pounds! And, if that isn’t enough, when he grows up, Tracy wants to be a strength coach. All proud to present Tracy’s story, a true Upper Limit athlete. Tracy grew up in Idalou, Texas which is just east of Lubbock, home of Texas Tech’s Red Raiders. Idalou High School, a 2-A school, went 11-1 in Tracy’s senior Quarterback Safety. received first team All-State honors as a Free Safety and Texas Tech recruited him as such.
Tracy also participated in five track events: The 100 (10.7), 200 (22.1), Sprint Relay (Sth in state), High Jump (6-0) and the long jump (23 feet5th in state). basketball career as a point guardforward. Tracy became a varsity starter half way through his 9th grade year. By his junior year, he averaged 21 points per game and a whopping 31 point average in his senior year. Obviously, Tracy garnered first team All-State football skills tremendously,” reasoned Tracy. “It’s helped with footwork and Benched 220 pounds. Tracy was SPECIAL TEAMS he really got into it the summer before attending Texas Tech. However, Tracy straight A’s. were his type of people.
“Everybody was friendly and down to earth plus TRACY SAUL: TEXAS TECH ALL-AMERICA home was so close,” said Tracy. Usually college football players redshirt their first year but not Tracy. By the fifth game, Tracy was called upon to start against Texas time, was ranked twelfth. “I was scared to death,” remembered Tracy, also excited but | was still wondering if I could even play at that level.” Not to worry, Tracy got his first interception and Tech won in an upset 27-24. His debut culminated in being honored on the Freshman All-American team and as an All-South West Conference Punt Returner. Tracy was also selected as the Newcomer-of-the-Year.
As a sophomore, Tracy was an AllSWC Defensive Back and Punt Return Specialist. Last year, Tracy achieved even greater status by being named by “Tracy is the best one I’ve ever seen. He’s the most consistent. Tracy has never missed anything. He makes my job simple.
Tracy was our choice for the Tech ‘Dare To Be Great Award.’ It’s an award we give to only one athlete each year to our off-season program.” Joe Jurazek: Tech Strength Coach UPI as a Second Team All-America and an AP Third Team All-American. He also repeated as an All-SWC selection. Tracy, as a junior, had already tied the SWC record of 20 career interceptions and as a result became a Street and Smiths pre-season First Team All- ABOUT TEXAS TECH Located in the west Texas city of Lubbock, Texas Tech has more than 25,000 students from all 50 states and nearly 100 foreign countries. They choose fields of study from 152 undergraduate, 107 master’s and 64 doctoral programs.
Texas Tech’s 1,839-acre central college campus is the second largest in the nation.
The Athletics Training Center, opened in 1986, is a unique structure found no where else in the world. The building assures Red Raider football players ideal workout conditions regardless of the weather. The 3,100,000-cubic foot facility is the largest full-circle membrane structure for use by people in the world. It is 75 feet from the floor to the top of the inflatable membrane roof, which is held up by air pressure. The top feature of the Athletics Training center might be the 5,500-square foot weight room, in which is found the latest in strength and conditioning equipment. At Texas Tech, the strength and conditioning program is a year-round concept.
Players are monitored in efÏciency, technique and effort. Progress is charted and evaluated closely throughout the player's career. Jones Stadium is the home of Texas Tech football. Impressive is the word most used to describe the 50,000-seat bowl-shaped stadium that features a giant Double T scoreboard-message center. A new Astroturf playing surface was installed in 1988. First rate facilities. ..that’s a pledge Texas Tech is proud to make.
America pick this year as a senior. He’s defensive back. Tracy’s best time in the forty has Parallel Squat, he Power Cleans 258 pounds. We asked Tracy why his Power Clean was so low. He laughed but was serious, “I didn’t start cleaning until my junior year. I think it’s a real good lift. It helps your explosion in your hips and legs. We also work really hard on our Squats because that’s so important.” usually does it after lifting. Plyometrics with Box Jumping drills are done consistently, “I like Plyometrics a whole lot. gives you an added dimension in that area. Tracy concentrates on speed training after Spring Football is over.
At this writing, Tracy has the most career interceptions of any active NCAA player and is fifth in the all time NCAA Career Interception list. He is also currently third in NCAA history in career interception return yards and close to Terrell Buckley of Florida State (1989-91) who holds the NCAA record. Tracy leads the SWC with a 54-yard punt return and a 38-yard kickoff return.
As far as steroids, drugs and alcohol. Tracy had these comments, “If you can’t play with your natural ability with good hard work, you shouldn’t do it at all. And alcohol...it hurts your body. | don’t drink at all. My mom and dad talked to me about it from a young age. I wanted to be good in athletics, so I didn’t do it. “Peer pressure was hard on me when I school but after I turned it down once or twice my friends never asked me again. So it’s been easy to deal with peer pressure. I never have been approached on drugs like cocaine or marijuana probably because I came from a small town.
Here at Tech, I started out with a great roommate and friends which I kept, so I’ve never even been offered anything related to drugs.”
Tracy wants to be involved in athletics or football in some sort of fashion after his playing career and states, “If I do coach, I’d probably be a strength coach and not a football coach.” To end our interview, Tracy concluded, “To be truly successful it’s important to keep a level head about everything and not gettin’ too big for what you do. You should make your friends and family central to what you do and enjoy life with them.”
THE TEXAS TECH STRENGTH FACILITY “Our most important characteristic,” says Tech strength coach Joe Juraszek, “is the atmosphere we create. This is a player’s sanctuary from everything else. It is a physically productive time without the pressures of studying or performing on the field. We promote a healthy lifestyle. We make it so it’s where they like to be.” patterns each workout individually. There are no standardized groups of goals, only a search for generalized individual improvement. The doors consistently open at 6 a.m., or earlier if a player has a special need. Because the facility is open an extensive number of hours, finding the time to get the work done is not a problem.
Constant observation and communication makes for progress, which is the goal of any weight room. “Our kids have varied backgrounds in weights,” said Juraszek. “Some kids from the larger schools just need to refine their techniques. Usually our biggest gains are kids from smaller programs who never had the use of a weight facility.”
We thank Texas Tech and Joe Juraszek for their help and wish Tracy Saul the best of everything and thank him for being a wonderful Upper Limit example.
Tracy Has 4 Interceptions.
From BFS Magazine — Winter 1992. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
