LOOK: Texas OL adds Torque Wheel to offseason regimen

While the skill position players participate in 7-on-7 drills in addition to going through offseason workouts with strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight, training for the offensive and defensive linemen is more difficult, so offensive line coach Herb Hand recently added a new device to the training regimen for the Texas Longhorns — the Torque Wheel.

The Torque Wheel, which has a patent pending, was created by one of Hand’s former players at Tulsa, Clint Anderson. An Allen product, Anderson was an undersized guard known for his motor, toughness, and mullet who broke into the starting lineup under Hand as a true freshman in 2008 and remained in that role until he graduated.

Retailing for $249, the Torque Wheel features an online endorsement from former Oklahoma standout and current Philadelphia Eagles star Lane Johnson.

“The Torque Wheel is overall the closet feeling to locking up with a moving defender without the heavy repeated impact of live reps,” Johnson said, according to Anderson’s website for Lineman Performance, LLC.

The device forces offensive linemen to tuck in their elbows and rotate their hands externally to create torque similar to run-blocking or pass-blocking situations. Hand’s picture shows an optional attachment, the $99 pressure handle, that allows a coach or another player to put pressure on the Torque Wheel, and therefore the offensive linemen, to simulate the engagement of a defender.

Working with the Torque Wheel and the pressure handle allows offensive linemen to develop their core strength to anchor in pass protection, with the eyelets on the Torque Wheel providing rope or band applications, as demonstrated in this video with Johnson:

A ball attachment for push ups can further develop the core, while a sled adapter better simulates the hand placement of actual in-game engagement better than the sled by itself:

Under head coach Tom Herman, the Longhorns program is increasingly taking advantage of its resources to provide players with the best training equipment, with the Torque Wheel representing the latest example by developing functioning strength that can translate to the field.

For a player like Parker Braun, the Georgia Tech graduate transfer who is developing his pass-protection technique after receiving limited game reps in that role while playing in Paul Johnson’s triple-option offense, the Torque Wheel could help speed up his development in that area.

For the entire offensive line, training with the device could make the difference on some key plays this season as Hand seeks every possible advantage for his position group — perhaps a little extra time in the pocket for junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger to find senior wide receiver Devin Duvernay on a post route in an important moment in the Cotton Bowl.