Big-time football teams have elaborate facilities and huge staffs, presumably dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make players better.
So why do big-time football players need personal trainers?
"They all come from a team background where whether you're a punter or a linebacker or a safety, you're on pretty much the same program," Steve Saunders of Power Train Sports Performance said Thursday.
"Because of sheer numbers, they need to just run guys through. Our biggest emphasis is tailoring a program to the individual."
Saunders spends most of the year working as a trainer to established NFL players like James Harrison and Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But from the end of the college football season until at least the NFL Scouting Combine Feb. 20-26 and at most until the NFL Draft April 25-26, Saunders conducts intensive sessions for college players turning pro at his facility, which adjoins the Planet Fitness Gym on the Millersville Pike.
Aaron Maybin, the Penn State defensive end expected to be a first-round draft pick, is among the 12 players Saunders is working with.
So are Penn Staters Josh Gaines, Maurice Evans, Tony Davis, Dan Lawlor, Tyrell Sales and Mark Rubin.
The high-profile, high-volume training farms for draft prospects are The Tom Shaw Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., and Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe, Ariz.
Player agents reserve spots at those places, two clients at a time, for $30,000. Saunders' full service costs, he estimates, less than $10,000.
"I spoke with some people who worked out with Steve, and I knew this is what I needed," Maybin said after a morning lifting session.
"What he does is a lot different; he works muscles you never really worked before. It's a lot of football-specific stuff, designed to make you into a more explosive player."
Saunders provides three meals a day for each prospect. Again, diets are tailored to individuals.
Most of the players are limited to very high protein, low-fat diets: meat, veggies and shakes.
"At some point I'll be dying for a piece of bread," Evans admitted.
But Maybin, listed at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds on the Penn State roster, has a very lean body. He needs to get bigger to play defensive end or an end/outside linebacker hybrid in the NFL.
He gets to pig out on carbohydrates and fatty stuff. He said Thursday he'd gained six pounds in the last week.
"They're a little bit jealous," Maybin said of his mates.
"I guess you can tell by looking at me that body fat is not a concern of mine."
Maybin is unusual in a lot of ways. Most of the 12 plays working with Saunders are borderline NFL prospects.
But Maybin, remarkably quick and athletic, is going to be rich in a few months. How rich — anywhere from lower first-round draft money to the top 10 overall — is Saunders' project.
"He's just very, very gifted," Saunders said.
"You show him something once, and in 2-3 reps he's got it. We have him doing drills for linemen, linebackers and defensive backs.
"He could be an end or a linebacker in the NFL. If he wanted to, he could be a safety."
Evans will almost certainly be drafted, but he's fighting a perception problem.
In the 2007 season, as a sophomore, Evans racked up 12.5 sacks and made first team all-Big Ten Conference.
Last season a small amount of marijuana was found in an apartment Evans shared with three teammates. He was suspended for three games, opening an opportunity for Maybin.
Evans is clearly uncomfortable talking about the suspension. He mumbles something about how it was "misconstrued" by the media.
But he knows he's going to have to talk about the incident with NFL people.
"I already have an idea [what I'm going to say," Evans said.
"I'm just going to be honest about it. That's all I can do."
All the prospects are living in apartments just minutes from the gym. Saunders works with the players' agents to set that up.
It's a pretty Spartan existence: train, eat, sleep. There may have been more distractions in Florida or Arizona.
"I wasn't looking for a vacation," Maybin said.
There's about to be one, though. Saunders said that he's leaving for the Super Bowl Thursday, to work with clients who'll be playing in the game.
He's going in an RV. All 12 prospects are invited to ride along.
"From when we drop them off until we load up after the game," Saunders said, "they'll be on their own."
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com. 
