You and James both had excellent points on the topic. I agree that there is much more to football than speed. Proof is that most sprinters rarely fare well. There are the Jeff Demps and Trindon Hollidays who I call football players who happen to be good at track. I doubt they would be as good if they trained like sprinters year round and tried to play football. Like James said, one cannot summarily accept or dismiss an exercise from their training process based on their own personal bias. I have kids who get a great deal out of deadlifts from a performance standpoint and others who look awkward even with light weight. In GPP, I love RDL’s. As we go to SPP, I tend to diminish the load as speed focus predominates. My whole philosophy is creating a balanced organism from all facets. If I accomplish with deadlifts, squats, RDL,etc; so be it. The big issue I have is that so many college strength coaches are hung up on testing numbers. They emphasize this too much in my estimation. I had a 5’8" 170 lb D2 QB break the QB squat as a freshman. He hit 455 and trust me, the coaches were shocked. The consequence, he leap frogged 3 guys to the number 2 slot on depth chart. Why? My guess, they see he works hard off season and they like his commitment. Do I think it makes him a better player, not really.
Sounds like James program is more trackish and yours more heavy duty strength training?
We all have our own thoughts and ideas on how to do things. I have had great success doing things the way I do. James is obviously a brilliant man and has his own approach as is well documented. I look at it like this, there are a lot of roads that lead to the same destination. I had 8 kids I work with directly and indirectly get college scholarships last year. I feel pretty good when my kids go to school, make all the timed runs and are stand outs in testing. Does this mean they will be great? By no means, it just means they are more prepared then those they are judged against. Maybe it helps them get a better look, resulting in more PT. My fastest kid ran 4.31 hand last week at 225. He hasn’t done s**t all summer and is capable of going faster. Needs to shed 10 lbs of unwanted fat. He has met with Vikings scouts and will get legit shot at NFL. He was GVSU career rushing leader in 3 seasons. He is in another class of fast. Just for a joke, he ran a 100m. From standing start after speed work he ran 11 flat in running shoes from standing start. He was locked up from 50m on. With block work, flexibility, and special endurance work, he could easily run sub 10.5. I don’t train him that way because he need to hit max speed, decelerate and change direction as well as get hit 30+ times per game.
GVSU suck, we played them. My cousin plays at Saginaw Valley. I’m joking about GVSU!
Yes. I agree.
I am a Ferris grad but I have kids on GVSU, Wayne, SVSU, Northwood, and soon Tech. Even though I will always be a Dawg, I love watching these kids play. Some of them I have worked with since 5th grade. My wife hates the Friday high school thing. Never home during the fall. GVSU is turning into “The U”. Some mighty thuggish behavior going on. MIP’s, assaults, armed robberies, etc. Great winning, but at what cost? RB 34, where did you play?
UP baby… 
So, have we come to a decision to which variation of the DL is best for sprinting? or not?.
I would go with RDL myself.
Straps or no straps?.
I never use straps Man up and work that grip! If anything I use chalk
and esp with rdl, your grip would have to be incredibly weak to not be able to hold the weight that your hammys could handle
all the dead lifting I ever did that was heavy I used straps.
I will need to look up what my best was but I was pretty strong for a chick.
not sure how you dont use straps when it gets past a certain weight.
I agree. Even with RDL’s there comes a point for some where your ability to grip the bar and hold onto it for multiple reps might give out before you can provide an overload to the hams/glutes/erectors.
I advise my athletes to go without straps until they are truly necessary but not before-the same for various pulls: mid-thigh, counter movement shrugs, or clean pulls (usually not necessary due to the intra-set RI/cluster). For those who have even a month or two of such experience with RDL’s they know when they need them. Over time, they begin to try to go without them for even heavier loads but eventually there is usually a point where they are needed.
What weight are you lifting? My grip gives out before my hams.
I never use straps man up?
My best squat was 400lbs
need to look up my dead lift but it was good for a 130lb female athlete
that I know for sure
I aint no man but I always used straps
Man up?
shut up works when you dont know what you are talking about.
no offence
or just dont say stupid crap or sexist retard stuff
hate it
Merlene Ottey barely lifted.
she is 50 and still running
should she man up?
she dont need no man I can tell you that.
most of them no doubt cant keep up.
LOL: Ange telling it like it is. Love it. 
straps or no straps
come on right KitKat…
you dont want to discourage anyone who wants to use straps.
xo
Ange
Same here. I can deadlift more than 3x bodyweight with a strap-free alternate grip, but need straps to do a decent set of RDLs using an overhand grip.
Well Angela i was refering to a man not a woman dont bite my head off??? Imo straps are like belts for squatting. Not needed. Takes away from grip strength. Didnt know I said something sexist??? And what does merlene have to do with it??? As for me I prefer chalk to straps. Once I get passed 350 I need to chalk up. The straps just get in my way. I like to feel the bar. But if u like straps then go for it. Rainy my max is 530 at 173 pounds. Once again this is just my opinion.