Six Zero Separates Those Who Want It From Those Who Think They Do
For Lou Holtz, motivation has always been simple.
“You eliminate those who aren’t motivated,” the former Notre Dame head coaching legend likes to say.
Matt McChesney has no problem doing that.
In fact, oftentimes, those not motivated depart his Six Zero Football Academy on their own.
“The ones that I run out of here are not supposed to be here anyway,” says McChesney, who runs an intense training program for high school, college and pro athletes out of his facility in Centennial, Colo.
McChesney says he can tell whether a client is truly willing to buy in within a month.
“Sometimes sooner,” he adds. “There are some kids who come in and talk big about what they want and I’m like, ‘OK, this is how you get it.’
“Within a week and a half, they’re like, ‘Oh well, it’s too hard...Matt disrespected me somehow... He’s too hard on me...I don’t need to work this hard to get what I want.’”
McChesney pushes his clients hard because he knows what it’s going to take to accomplish their goal of playing in college and beyond. After a successful career at the University of Colorado, he played six years in the NFL, spending time on the offensive and defensive lines with the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos.
“Some people think they can throw money at recruiting and it’ll just happen,” he says. “I’ve been saying constantly that you cannot buy this. This has to be earned and invested. The guys who invest correctly, usually damn near always succeed.”
His results are hard to argue with.
Over the last two years, he’s helped send 60 players off to college, virtually all of the high school prospects who have stuck with him throughout the process.
He’s helped some achieve the ultimate goal, guys like current Denver Broncos Sam Jones and Phillip Lindsay.
“Phil and Sam are two Colorado kids who were some of my first guys,” says McChesney. “I’ve been working with Sam Jones since he was 15. We helped him get to Arizona State, where he was a three-year starter and a captain. He got drafted by Denver last year and made the roster. He’s developing now as an offensive lineman in The League.
“Phil is a kid I’ve known forever. I helped him get to (Colorado) and so on and so forth. We helped him last year for the Draft.”
Lindsay enjoyed a great rookie season as a running back with the Broncos in 2018, rushing for over 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns.
“He was in here last year doing film work and working on his pass sets,” says McChesney. “They’re just two examples of guys who heard the message early and bought into it.”
Like motivation, McChesney’s message is simple.
“‘God gifted you with talent,’” he says of the messages he gives his clients. “‘Are you going to rely on it or maximize it? If you humble yourself to maximize it and come at this with no ego and approach every day as if you suck, have nothing and no talent and have to earn every single thing you’re going to get and you’re actually physically talented and smart, the sky is the limit. If you want to get paid to play this game, boys, there’s the light.’
“They’ve watched guys do it in front of them. They work with pro athletes all of the time.”
Maybe the big picture can get lost at times, but daily workouts at Six Zero Academy provide plenty of reasons for motivation.
“This facility levels the playing field for everyone,” says McChesney. “There are no bad days.
“If you don’t come prepared, you’re going to get embarrassed.”
McChesney works with multiple Notre Dame recruiting targets, including 2020 offensive tackle Reece Atteberry and 2021 offensive lineman Harisen Miller, who were both in South Bend for the Irish’s recent Junior Day.
He also trains 2020 Notre Dame defensive tackle commit Aidan Keanaaina. McChesney recalled a recent session where he chewed out Keanaaina pretty good to illustrate the response those who succeed in his program tend to have toward him.
“I thought he was having a (crap) day,” McChesney remembers. “At the end of the session, it really picked up and it was really good. At the beginning, he was slow and lackadaisical, he wasn’t really applying what I was teaching him. We went in and watched it on tape and I was pretty hard on him.
“He handled it with, ‘Yes sir, I’ll get it fixed.’ And, the next day, he came and fixed it. He didn’t shrivel and slink when I put pressure on him. I do all of this on purpose.”
McChesney believes too many top high school athletes fail to understand that respect is earned, not given.
“They say things like, ‘You need to respect me,’” he says. “And I’m like, ‘Who are you? No offense kid, but who do you think you are?’
“How about you just sit back and buy in and then you’ll be respected because of the work ethic? You sit here and tell me what I should think. No offense 17-year-old, but kick rocks.”
McChesney admits to being immature in many ways himself as a young player.
“I was a moron when I was in high school,” he says. “I didn’t do anything right. I went to college immature. I wasn’t a good student. I drank too much. I smoked too much. I chased too many girls. It directly affected my opportunity in the NFL.
“I had character issues. My senior year, I had 60 tackles and nine sacks as a three-technique and I didn’t even get invited to The Combine.”
He wants to make sure his players don’t make the same mistakes he did.
“I’m very hard on my guys, but they all know I love them,” he says. “The ones who are supposed to be here, stay. And the ones who aren’t, go. That’s the beauty of football.”
And McChesney loves it.
“It’s pretty fun,” he says. “It’s a great gig. I’m just happy that I can help spark change in my home state and kids can have an outlet and access to somebody who does it right.
“I’d like to think we’re building a foundation with these kids that can help them grow as men and not just players.”