(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
CENTENNIAL — In the space where Matt McChesney spends his time screaming and swearing at high school football players, the owner and operator of Six Zero Strength and Fitness took the time to praise the efforts of a senior class that had just finished a day of signing National Letters of Intent.
That was always the plan. For both McChesney and the players sitting down and listening to him speak of the hard work that had just paid off.
Wednesday night, 26 football players gathered to celebrate their commitments to play football in college. Some went Division I (FBS). Some went Division II. Some went the junior college route.
But regardless of level, they have all succeeded.
“If you look at the NFL, the league is 40 percent underrated kids from small schools,” McChesney said. “It doesn’t matter how you get there in the NFL and it doesn’t matter how you get there are the college football level either.”
A former CU Buff and Denver Bronco, McChesney’s Denver ties are strong. He first opened Six Zero Strength and Fitness with the sole intent of giving high school athletes a fighting chance of continuing to play the sports they love at a higher level. He preaches technique, endurance and most of all, mental toughness.
“There have been some times where I’ve (lost my lunch) and thought about rethinking my life when I’m here,” said Arapahoe wide receiver Alex Tennant, who signed with Montana State. “But when you look at the wall and you see pictures of all the guys that have made it to the next level, you just tell yourself it’s all worth it.”
The commits that made that made their way through McChesney’s program all took part of their school organized signing day activities, then converged to what’s affectionately known as “The Dungeon” to celebrate with each other.
Matt McChesney (left) poses with CU commit Frank Umu Thursday night. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
As McChesney stood in front of his players and their families, he preached about the drive he has to commit to them. When they come to the gym at 5 a.m. to grind, it gives McChesney the motivation to continue his work and help as many kids and families as possible, regardless of their talent level.
“You can give me the worst athlete in the room and if he wants it, I can turn him into a player,” McChesney said. “That’s what good coaches do. You give me a shell; I’ll give you a football player.”
With signing a letter of intent being the ultimate goal for the athletes that walk through his door, for McChesney, he wants to build quality human beings first and football players second.
“The first three things I ask for when kids walk through my door are height, weight and grade-point average,” he says.
If a player comes in with anything under a 3.0, he’ll find them the help they need to boost it. If a player under his watch falls below a 3.2, they’re not welcome back until it gets back above that level.
Once they have all the due diligence in place, McChesney turns to his director of recruiting and quarterbacks coach Warren McCarty and the two start to open doors on the recruiting front.
“We utilize relationships,” McCarty said. “Contrary to popular belief, recruiting is about relationships. There are thousands of good football players. Getting a player looked at and truly evaluated and considered often comes down to relationships and trust.”
Looking across a room full of future college football players, it’s hard for one to argue that those relationships don’t pay off in the long run. In the gym at their schools, the players get to celebrate with their classmates and coaches. Wednesday night, they got to stand together, as a Dungeon Family, and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
“This is probably the biggest day of my life in the 18 years I’ve been here,” said University of Colorado commit Frank Umu of Heritage. “I get to celebrate with other people who have the same goals and have gone through the same experiences and that’s special.”
Six Zero’s 2015 commitment list:
See a full list of Colorado commits in our database
- Frank Umu (Heritage) – Colorado
- Dillon Middlemiss (Pomona) – Colorado
- Matt Gaiter (Chatfield) – Air Force
- Bubba Watkins (Valor Christian) – Air Force
- Rope Ruel (Douglas County) – Colorado Mesa
- Alex Tennant (Arapahoe) – Montana State
- Alex Keys (Highlands Ranch) – Western Michigan
- Brandon Leahy (Chaparral) – Eastern Michigan
- Cody Blair (Highlands Ranch) – Texas A&M-Kingsville
- Cameron Knight (Grandview) – West Hills Community College
- Tyler Dalton (ThunderRidge) – Chadron State
- Zak Lawler (Pomona) – West Hills Community College
- Patrick Healy (Littleton) – North Dakota
- Bryce Blair (Cherry Creek) – North Dakota
- Bull Parker (Cherry Creek) – CSU-Pueblo
- Tony Bello (Bear Creek) – New Mexico State
- Brandon O’Donnell (Valor Christian) – Utah State
- Sebastian Sock (Valor Christian) – Kansas
- Tanner Wilkey (Longmont) – University of San Diego
- Josh Salazar (Rangeview) – Chadron State
- Joe Sartini (Chatfield) – East Coast Prep
- Adam Schacht (Mullen) – West Hills Community College
- Kyle Gallup (Chaparral) – Marshall
- Brandon Biggs (Valor Christian) – University of Northern Colorado
- Kyle Winkler (Chatfield) – Miami of Ohio (Baseball)
- Joey Drennan (Littleton) – Commitment is pending acceptance into U.S. military academies