TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Paul Boudreaux rolled into Tuscaloosa Sunday to haul away the piece of machinery that has helped the Crimson Tide through one of its hottest preseason camps in recent memory.

Boudreaux, who owns Boudreaux Athletics, has been supplying Alabama with sporting equipment for the past nine years. You might recognize his giant misting fans which grace the sidelines of Bryant-Denny Stadium during games. However, his coolest product to date hugs the back wall of Alabama’s practice facility.

The large aluminum box isn’t much to look at. Its plain white walls are simple, and to some, a bit ugly. But don’t let its humble exterior fool you, the “Body Recovery Zone” has been a lifesaver for the Crimson Tide for the past five preseasons.

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Simply put, Boudreaux’s device is a freezer. The 40-foot trailer stands roughly 10 feet tall and eight feet wide. Its usefulness comes in its ability to reach temperatures of -25 degrees, making it an essential tool to cool off Crimson Tide players during the breaks of practices where temperatures can reach into the high 90s.

"The intent of that unit is really two different things,” Alabama director of sports medicine Jeff Allen explained. “We have that on the field, and it’s intended for us to battle the heat during practice. We want the guys to go in that unit during the breaks we take in practice because it will definitely cool them off and hopefully lower their core temperature which will decrease heat issues, decrease fatigue and allow them to sustain through the entire practice.

“The other goal with that is if we have a guy during practice who has a heat-related issue, we want to take them in there, evaluate them, cool them off, and determine what our next course of action is. It’s just a really good tool for us to have to not only help guys finish practice and compete better during practice but also as a preventative measure for heat-related issues.”

Allen said Alabama has fit upwards of 60 people inside the cooling chamber at one time. The temperature settings differ depending on how many players are occupying the unit, but a typical setting is around 10-15 degrees, which is enough to rapidly bring down body temperatures without sending players into shock. Cool-down breaks during practice typically last anywhere between three to five minutes but leave players reenergized and ready to take on the rest of the workout.

"When you’re tired you kind of go in there just to chill and get your body back right," safety Xavier McKinney said. "It’s more like a mental thing. It kind of helps you get ready for that second half of practice.”

Alabama players have had this luxury since 2015, but the product itself took some time to develop.

The idea started when Allen and LSU head trainer Jack Marucci approached Boudreaux with a need to temporarily escape the severe heat that accompanies August preseason camp in the South.

Schools have long had 300-gallon cooling tanks where players can be fully submerged in water to help treat heat-related illnesses. Those are still used today for more dire instances. However, in less severe situations, it is impractical to have players drench themselves in the middle of workouts.

Boudreaux’s first idea was to take his misters and place them into closed tents. While it added comfort, it didn’t come close to delivering the desired effect. Next, he tried pumping the air conditioning from Alabama’s indoor facility into the tents. That process brought temperatures down to a cool 58-degrees.

“I thought, ‘Man, that’s pretty good,’” Boudreaux said. “It was until we put 100 players in it, and then the temperature shot back up. It was kind of trial and error for a while.”

Things began to turn during a hot car ride down I-59 from Tuscaloosa back to his hometown of Opelousas, La. Driving down the road, Boudreaux spotted a Sysco food-service truck and a light bulb went on in his mind.

“I said, ‘Boy, I bet it’s nice and cool inside that trailer,” he recalled.

However, the thought of how to get fully-padded players in and out of such trucks without turning ankles and twisting knees quickly poured cold water on the notion. For a few months, Boudreaux gave up on the idea altogether. Then a thought came to look for refrigerated shipping containers. A few calls to a friend in the shipping business and the “Body Recovery Zone” was born.

Boudreaux stayed true to his Louisiana roots and supplied LSU with the initial model. However, he calls the unit given to Alabama 1A. After branching out to those two schools, things have really taken off.

“We tested them out for a couple of years at Alabama and LSU and got some really good results,” Boudreaux said. “Last year, South Carolina had got them, and I set them up there. I was on my way to Tuscaloosa, and the Saints called. A buddy of mine who’s a head trainer asked me how quickly I could get there. It was a Saturday, and I told him I’ll be there tomorrow if you want. He goes, ‘We’ve got practice at 8 o’clock Sunday morning.’ Man, I boogied back down to New Orleans as fast as I could.”

From there, Boudreaux met with New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Sean Payton. After explaining how the units worked, Boudreaux set one up the following Tuesday. While its effectiveness held up, the unsightly nature didn’t go down well with Payton.

“He was losing his mind because he didn’t like the way they looked on the sidelines,” Boudreaux said. “I had talked to their marketing department and told them to put some covering over it or wrap it to jazz it up. I mean, they are what they are. At the time, they were just test units.

“But it was hot as hell outside, and I put them in it at about 20 degrees. I had them sit down for a few minutes… So we walked outside, and (Payton) keeps looking at the thing and shaking his head. I asked him, ‘Well what do you think?’ He just said, ‘I love it.’ I said, ‘Great, why don’t you help me sell them?’”

After Payton’s endorsement, the product exploded. Along with Alabama, LSU and the Saints, Boudreaux now supplies Body Recovery Zones to the Houston Texans, Clemson, Florida State, Memphis, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas among others.

Payton’s only suggestion came in sprucing things up a bit, an idea which was already in the works. Now, Body Recovery Zones are fully customizable, featuring front-entry doors, windows, benches and bleachers.

“It’s like going from a Volkswagen to a Mercedes,” Boudreaux said.

While Alabama is still using its initial unit from 2015, the Crimson Tide has had discussions with Boudreaux on replacing it with a newer model in the near future. Still, Boudreaux's basic design has done the trick again for Alabama during this year’s preseason camp.

According to Weather Underground, the average max temperature in Tuscaloosa this August has been 95 degrees, the highest it has been since 2011. That mark is tied for the second hottest camp in the Nick Saban era — 2011 also had an average high of 95, while Saban’s first season in 2007 saw an average high of 98.

Awareness to heat-related injuries has heightened across college football, especially following the death of Maryland offensive lineman Jordan McNair, who passed away of a heatstroke suffered during a football workout last year.

Allen says player safety is at the forefront of Alabama’s concerns and that he routinely talks with Saban to organize plans to manage the conditions. This year, six of Alabama’s 20 preseason practices were moved indoors, while the Crimson Tide also scheduled four evening practices to escape the heat.

“We have put an extra emphasis on it this year,” Allen said. “Obviously with the increased attention to heat-related illnesses, we’re trying to do everything we can to protect our guys. We want to create a safe environment for them — that’s the bottom line.

“Obviously, there are inherent risks in football and other sports, but we want to mitigate those as much as we can. We think that the on-the-field unit definitely helps us with that.”

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