Believe or not, the secret to University of Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran's success may be lemons.

Yes, lemons.

He squeezes them into his water every night to try and help his voice recover from a long day of yelling, along with tea in the morning and periodic throat lozenges.

"It's kind of funny," he said. "Sometimes I have a little bit left in the tank for my voice and my kids laugh. 'Daddy has his voice.' Mostly I whisper to them at night when telling them stories."

Yeah, there's no whispering around the Mal Moore Athletic Facility, especially when Cochran's around.

"YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH," has become his trademark call, with the volume only surpassed by its intensity. Players have been known to hear it throughout the 20,000-square foot strength and conditioning center, while stretching before practice and even on a recent public-service ad for the Alabama Department of Public Health.

"I think in my position it's all about getting them to day in and day out bring their best," Cochran said. "It doesn't matter what sport it is or what exercise you're doing. I think when it comes down to it, my job is to get them to bring their A-game, so when Coach (Nick) Saban needs their A-game in a football game they've done it so many times that it's normal. It's an attitude. Mental toughness is built from every day bringing their best.

"I have a 100-some players and I have to get every ounce of energy every day when they walk through the door."

For those who have never seen Cochran, who's becoming more of a local celebrity with each passing day, he's the one on the Alabama sideline holding up four fingers and jumping up and down through the entire fourth quarter of every game. For most players he's the first coach they see in the morning when workouts begin at 6 a.m., and the one they occasionally hear in their sleep.

"He's just passionate," junior wide receiver Julio Jones said. "The man comes to work every day ready to go. He's just passionate about being here, about helping players achieve their full potential."

"He's intense," junior defensive lineman Marcell Dareus said. "He makes you work hard even when you don't feel like working."

Cochran makes no apologies.

"I'm a strength coach," he said. "I wear shorts and a sweatshirt or a T-shirt to work every single day. I'm changing lives. I don't know, I can't explain it but to me people get in their car and they're going to work, I feel like I'm in my car and on my way to the playground like when I was a kid. I feel like I'm going to swing on the monkey bars.

"My job requires a lot of energy, but realistically if I don't have it how do I expect a player to have it?"

Like numerous others on the staff, Cochran's arrival on the Capstone came through LSU, where he earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology and master's in sports management while working his way up to assistant strength coach under Saban. He held the same position with the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, working with the likes of Chris Paul, Baron Davis, David West and Tyson Chandler, when his former coach called and asked if he was ready to get back into football.

"I said I am if it's with you. I came a-running," Cochran said. "It was a Thursday that I came to visit him and the offseason program began Monday."

The rest of the strength and conditioning staff took a little more time to mold, but Saban knew what he wanted. It wasn't just guys like Director of Player Development Willie Carl Martin or Assistant Head Strength Coach Terry Jones, whom Cochran refers to as his right-hand men. There are also guys like Kindal Moorehead, Freddie Roach and Lester Towns, who all have one thing especially in common.

"I think that's kind of what makes this program click is Coach Saban has surrounded these players with former players who are interested in getting these players better," Cochran said.

For example, Martin spent 10 years with Edmonton and Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League, where he was named an All-Pro eight times and played in six Grey Cups, while Jones played for Paul W. "Bear" Bryant and seven years with the Green Bay Packers.

They "throw around the weights" as well as anyone, but like with every football team there are more than few weight-room warriors, and not just the obvious suspects like nose tackle Josh Chapman, guard Chance Warmack, running back Trent Richardson, linebacker Dont'a Hightower, center William Vlachos and offensive lineman David Ross.

"Greg McElroy works very hard," Cochran said. "He doesn't have the highest numbers or the best numbers, or run the best 40 time. He works really hard. Preston Dial is in the same boat. Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, you're not going to see two guys who could possibly be out-worked. Mark Barron, same thing. Those guys, D.J. Fluker, same way, they have an attitude and they set the tempo every time they walk in the weight room, every time they walk on the field to run sprints."

Actually, that helps demonstrate another secret to Cochran's success, paying attention.

He's always checking on the players, and if more than one or two develop the same types of injuries he'll tweak the team's regiments to avoid it become a widespread problem. It's probably a major reason why the Crimson Tide hasn't had the same kinds of hamstring and groin injuries as previous years.

"I work very close with (Director of Sports Medicine) Jeff Allen," Cochran explained. "Every single day we meet about the issues on the team, the nicks and the little things that you don't see that are bothering the players, that a player would never come and tell me, 'This is hurting.' They don't want to sound or feel like they're soft. We have it set up in the training room where they'll go to certain people and say, 'Hey, this is kind of bothering me, can we put ice on it?' and I find out all that stuff without them knowing and I can change and adapt the program as long as Coach Saban is ok with it."

Cochran also notes the music players listen to in the weight room, and sometimes what they're watching away from football. It helps give him new material for motivation.

"LET'S GO."

"THAT'S TIGHT."

"IF IT FEELS GOOD, YOU AREN'T DOING IT RIGHT."

"I learned a lot from Coach Saban, bringing his work ethic every day, just seeing how hard he works," Cochran said. "What is my job in his army, what is my role, where do I fit in and I can be my best? The thing that I always noticed was energy. They need to be excited about what they're doing. They need to have a sense of urgency when they step on that field. It's not 'Oh, it's another day,' I like to bring them some fire, some juice."

And some lemons for himself.