Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Spotlight: Bret Berg
9/26/2016 12:10:00 PM | Football
By Jon Terry, Bucknell Athletic Communications
A major key to success in college football, particularly at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, is student-athlete development. Sure, every team is searching for the “blue chip” recruit who can jump right into the starting lineup in year one. But coaches are also looking to round out each recruiting class with guys who bring a certain set of intangibles, who can be nurtured into productive players down the road. Bret Berg, a native of nearby Danville, Pennsylvania, is a shining example in this year's Bucknell senior class.
Located just across the Susquehanna River and about a 20-minute drive from Bucknell, Danville is similar to many of the small towns in Central Pennsylvania. It is a close-knit community with a modest-size high school. Most of the athletes play multiple sports, and football on Friday nights is a big deal.
The son of Tammy and Dr. Ken Berg, a veterinarian in Danville, Bret was a three-sport star for the Ironmen, completing the football-basketball-baseball trifecta each year. While he still harbors fond memories of running out on the gridiron in front of most of the town every Friday night, Berg's initial college thoughts centered around opportunities to play Division III basketball.
But soon Division II and III football recruiters began calling, and then Bucknell jumped into the mix. Berg classifies himself as a “homebody” with strong ties to family and friends, so the opportunity to play Division I football close to home was very appealing. Combine that with the fact that Bucknell provided the best academic opportunity of any of the schools he was considering, and it was a fairly straightforward courtship.
Once Berg stepped onto campus for preseason prior to his rookie campaign in 2013, however, he quickly began to wonder what he was up against. At Danville, he was often one of the biggest players on the field, playing free safety at 6'1” and 175 pounds. At Bucknell, that made him one of the smallest guys on the field.
Every incoming freshman will talk about the adjustment to the “speed of the college game,” and it was especially magnified for Berg coming from small-town high school football. He began his career at the bottom of the depth chart, but today, four years later, you will notice Berg's No. 12 in the starting lineup at strong safety, his second straight year as a starter. He is the team's No. 2 tackler with 24 through three games after ranking sixth on the team with 47 tackles last year.
So how did Berg become such a terrific case study in player development? Ask him, and he will talk about three distinct areas: the physical adjustment (strength, speed, nutrition), the intellectual adjustment (schemes, techniques, film study), and the time-management adjustment (balancing football and academics).
Berg says the physical gap was most glaring for him right from the start. In the summer between high school graduation and the start of preseason training camp, he was only able to participate in a handful of voluntary workouts at Bucknell due to an illness and then family vacation. So preseason camp was his first real indoctrination to college football.
“My first day in camp I immediately see Sean Sellers and Evan Byers, two huge defensive players, and I thought, 'I don't know if I can cut it here,'” Berg recalls.
One of his biggest early adjustments was getting into the weight-room mindset. Berg readily admits that he was not much of a weightlifting participant in high school, but now he plays between 205 and 210 pounds after coming in at 175.
“I actually didn't lift much at all in high school,” he says. “I would go into the weight room and just kind of mess around. I was never much of a weightlifter. We didn't really lift much in-season, and then in basketball I never wanted to ruin my jump shot. I was never a big weight-room guy until I got here, and then I figured out that's what you need to do. The biggest reason why I got so much better from my freshman to sophomore year was that I got so much stronger. I was able to compete with college players.”
Nutrition can be a big adjustment for college freshmen as well. After having mostly supervised meals at home, suddenly going off to college and being turned loose with a meal plan at Bucknell's terrific Bostwick Marketplace requires some discipline.
“I'll admit that I gained some bad weight my freshman year,” said Berg. “At practice, being a background guy, I didn't get as many reps, and then I would go to the caf on the meal plan and just go eat. Winter break I went home and just got myself back to zero in terms of eating well and shedding that bad weight. After that, I was able to figure out my proportions and how to eat properly. Nutrition was never a big deal for me in high school either, but now you need to be on top of it just to be able to keep up.”
With the backdrop of the size and speed adjustments also comes an acquaintance with a college playbook that is several factors thicker than a high school edition.
“Originally it was the system,” Berg says when asked if the physical or mental side was a bigger initial shock. “Everything was so technical with all the footwork and alignments. Once I started getting that down and had to start actually putting it on the field, then it became about catching up to the speed and physicality of the game.”
After working through all of those year-one adjustments primarily as a scout-team player, Berg says he felt like he made a significant leap during spring practice between his freshmen and sophomore seasons. That led to an opportunity to play on special teams as a sophomore, which in turn opened up even more doors.
“Freshman year spring ball, we had a lot of veteran safeties, so I got a lot of reps while they rested,” says Berg. “I just worked hard. Once I got used to the schemes and learned the ins and outs of the position, it started getting easier. Special teams was big for me. I made it a point my sophomore year to excel on special teams, and that helped me a lot. My position coach [John Bowes] is also the special teams coach, so that showed him I was willing to work hard. That's where he gained trust in me to finally put me in a game on defense.”
Berg got into nine games on special teams and as a backup safety in 2014, finishing with 11 tackles. One year later, he played in all 11 games and made 10 starts, first playing free safety and then moving to strong safety after senior captain Louis Taglianetti suffered a season-ending injury early in the season. He recorded at least five tackles in six different games and intercepted a pass in the win at Lafayette.
Now a key contributor on a Bucknell defense that has ranked No. 1 in the Patriot League in total defense and rushing defense in each of the last five years, Berg's coaches often credit his instincts and “football IQ” as the keys to his success.
“I'm big into film,” Berg says. “I think I have gotten pretty good at studying the other team. Where I lack in speed or athleticism, I can make up for it with anticipation, reading keys and just knowing where to be. Sometimes you are just going to get beat, but for the most part, being a student of the game has definitely helped me get to the point where I am now.”
The third major area of development for Berg has been time management. In addition to daily practice and conditioning, playing Division I college football also requires team meetings and film study. For Berg, a political science major with pre-law and economics minors, keeping up with a rigorous academic program presented a challenge as well.
“It was definitely a tough change to start,” admits Berg, who has twice been named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll. “Our coaches do a great job grilling time management into our brains. We have to fill out time management sheets every week. If you aren't doing well in a class, then you have study hours. At the beginning of my freshman year, I knew my spot on the team, so I really wanted to focus on school and get off to a really good start, and I did. As football started getting better for me, as I was more in the mix, then that balance got a little bit tougher for me. End of freshman year to sophomore year was when I struggled more. I had started taking classes in my major and things were just getting more difficult. It's something you learn to deal with, how to balance football and academics. Once you get more experience, it just becomes customary.”
While he is considering taking a gap year after graduation in May, Berg plans to take his LSAT exam and attend law school. His interest in the field of law was sparked by a summer internship at the firm of Bucknell Hall-of-Fame quarterback Bob Marks '67, a longtime attorney in Danville.
“It was great going into Mr. Marks' office every day and seeing all the Bucknell memorabilia all over the place,” says Berg, who interned directly with attorney Laurie Pickle. “I would check in with him every day after going to workouts, and he always wanted to know the scoop on the team, which guys are looking good. I've always had a friend in Bob Marks. My parents have known him for a long time. It was a great experience overall. I did lot of legal research, going through documents. I actually got to sit in on a trial where I worked the video. I've been to preliminary hearings, met with prisoners at the jail, a lot of procedural stuff.”
For now, the postgraduate plans are still months away for Berg, as he and the Bucknell defense try to figure out a way to slow down a fast-paced VMI offense that has posed some problems for the Bison in recent years. Berg says he hopes the defense can get back to being as opportunistic as it was during the Marist game in the season-opener, when Bucknell forced six turnovers.
“The mindset of our defense is that we were good last year, but not good enough to help us win more games,” says Berg. “So now we need to buckle down, and our coaches have really stressed the idea of 'changing the outcome' on defense. Whether it's getting touchdowns on our own, creating turnovers, basically just making it easier for our offense to get in a groove. It's got to be more than just the defense playing well, we want it to be that the defense played well and won us the game. In the Marist game we took that to heart. Just get the ball in our offense's hands.”
Expect to see No. 12 in the middle of a lot of plays this afternoon. Bret Berg has come a long way in four years, and he continues to be a shining example of successful player development at the college level.
Note: This Story Appeared in a Recent Bucknell Football Gameday Program
