WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – New Rams running back Jarquez Hunter didn't have lifting shoes when he started training in the sixth grade, so he wore his cowboy boots.
By high school, Hunter was throwing up absurd weight, earning a spot in the powerlifting state championship in 10th grade. The self-described "country boy" from Philadelphia, Miss. said he felt his boots provided better leverage than other shoes, so he wore them in competitions.
"I just said, since I'm so comfortable wearing my boots while I'm practicing, I might as well just wear them in the competition, and it helped me," Hunter said.
He placed third in his sophomore year, and after his junior-year competition was canceled due to COVID-19, he won the gold at the Class 5A Powerlifting State Championship as a senior in the 198-pound class. He bench pressed 300 pounds while squatting and deadlifting 575, respectively, all in his trusty boots. In fact, he lifted more total weight (1,450 pounds) than nine of the 10 contestants in the two weight classes above him.
The 5-foot-9, 204-pound back out of Auburn has only increased his leg day weight throughout his time as an SEC standout, trading out his boots for athletic shoes. Hunter said that kind of training enhances his burst and power, helping him emerge as a top prospect that the Rams drafted in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
His high school coach at Neshoba Central, Patrick Schoolar, told Al.com that Hunter was pound-for-pound the strongest player he'd ever coached, and his weightlifting prowess has only improved. His personal best for box squats is now 685 pounds – for deadlifts, it's between 585 and 600.
A normal leg day for Hunter includes trap bar deadlifts, squats and some single-leg exercises to increase strength and balance while running. He usually opts for less reps of more weight to build muscle and amplify fast-twitch movements that make running backs more explosive and tougher to tackle.
"It helps with speed, like putting power, putting force to the ground when you run," Hunter said. "I feel like that helps you when you're doing a lot of heavy weight, quick up and down. I feel like that helps you with quickness and pushing power off the ground."
That explosion certainly showed up on Saturdays, and will be extremely valuable for a Rams team that totaled the fourth-fewest explosive carries (10-plus yards) last season, according to Next Gen Stats. Hunter generated more explosive runs (42) on 186 carries last year, according to Pro Football Focus, than the entire Rams team did (37) with 450 attempts.
His 62 missed tackles forced, a result of his concentrated lower-body strength and balance, ranked 19th in the FBS last season and sixth among backs with less than 200 carries, also per PFF.
As a freshman at Auburn, Hunter blew away now-Jaguars running back and former Auburn teammate Tank Bigsby by squatting 600 pounds "like it was 225," he told Al.com.
"It was ridiculous when we saw that," Bigsby said.
Still, a lot has changed since Hunter was lifting 10 plates in his cowboy boots in Neshoba County, Miss. He's no longer even the awe-inspiring freshman whose squats nobody could touch. He's now part of an NFL team whose *punter*, Ethan Evans, can squat 600-plus pounds.
That will surely galvanize Hunter's relentless work ethic and competitive nature.
"I try to push my teammates to be better when we lift and then we'll compete on that side," Hunter said. "We try to push each other, make each other better, hype each other up just to get through the lift and just try to make each other compete."
The Rams' director of strength and conditioning Justin Lovett once said "big squats, big kicks," regarding Evans' weight room routines. For Hunter, the hope will be "big squats, big runs."
