An integral part of the athletic development for most student-athletes in various sports is strength training and conditioning. This takes many consistent days of time and training to see noticeable results, and with the help of our new strength and conditioning coach, Cedric Scott, athletes will be more prepared for their sports than ever before.
Cedric Scott was hired as the new strength and conditioning coach last summer and brings energy and many years of experience to the Bolles staff. Scott grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, and played football, baseball, and track in high school. He earned a scholarship to play football at the University of Southern Mississippi and then went on to play professionally for the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and even in the Canadian League.
After his athletic career, he went back to Southern Mississippi to get his master’s in sports management. This is also the same place that he began his career in strength and conditioning.
“I’ve always liked the human body by all mechanics, and when I went to college, I saw how the strength and conditioning coach energized and instructed the players,” Scott said. “It seemed that he spent more time with the players than any of the other coaches, so I was like, that’s something I could see myself doing.”
In 2009, Scott started working for Southern Mississippi as a strength and conditioning coach until 2012. Then, he briefly worked at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. More recently, he was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2012 and was there for 13 years. This brings us to today, as he is now a member of the Bolles athletic staff.
Having a job in the NFL is a dream that thousands of people have but are not able to make a reality. Although this is the dream job for many, there are still several drawbacks to working with the NFL, specifically in strength and conditioning. “You don’t get to see if what you planned out can actually work because sometimes you don’t get to spend a whole lot of time with a player,” Scott said. “It’s a tough business. Guys get cut, and their dreams of playing NFL, of playing at a professional level are over. You can’t help them. There is nothing you can do.”
Nonetheless, there are definitely many pros to working with the NFL. “One of my favorite parts is working with the most elite athletes in the world,” he said, “Just finding what a player needs, helping develop that, and then seeing them be successful at their craft.” He finds that working with these amazing athletes on their minimal flaws is his favorite part as a strength and conditioning coach.
Performance coaches need to bring energy to their athletes every day so that athletes can get as much as possible out of their workouts, even when athletes may not have the energy. “A lot of strength coaches feed off of the athletes. And sometimes it’s tough, but when you remember why you do this job, why you love seeing athletes reach their performance goals, that’s just the energy in itself,” Scott said.
Along with many years of prior experience in the strength and conditioning field, Scott hopes to bring much more to the Bolles athletic staff. “I want to just try to give athletes a little insight on what can be achieved, give a little insight on the expectations of student athletes, and a little insight on how to get to the next level,” Scott said. Coach Scott brings experience and passion to the Bolles athletic staff and will be a very important part of the bright future of Bolles athletics. “I look forward to helping Bolles excel athletically. I’m hearing that there are big things in the future for Bolles athletics,” Scott said. 
In the short time Coach Scott has been at Bolles, he has already proven to be a very valuable addition to the athletic staff. He has already worked with many of our Bolles athletes. Scott brings more than just experience; he brings a new style and attitude to the Bolles strength and conditioning program. Bolles athletics will be on the rise over the next years, and Coach Scott will be a important reason for it.
