STORRS, Conn.-- Jerry Martin is not only an award-winning strength and conditioning coach at Connecticut, he's also the inventor who designed most of the machines in the weight room of the football team's new $48 million practice facility.

His biggest brainchild is "the unit." It's a 10-foot tall free-weight station, cable column, rowing machine, Olympic platform, incline bench, weight rack and more -- all rolled into one.

There are 28 of them being installed into his 18,000-square-foot strength and conditioning room. Each will be hooked up to a computerized control box. A player will enter a personal code, and the machine will tell him what exercises to do, then upload the results of the workout to Martin.

The units allow Connecticut's players to do dozens of different exercises -- from pull-ups to powerlifts -- without having to move from machine to machine.

"This is state of the art, there is nobody else in the country that has this," head coach Randy Edsall said. "I guarantee you that now people will be coming to visit here to see what we have, and you'll start seeing this in everybody else's weight room as well."

Martin, who has won national awards for his work, said he invents equipment out of necessity, taking ideas from existing machines, combining them and tweaking them to meet the football team's needs.

"At this level, you can't just go and get equipment off a rack," Martin said. "With the size of our athletes and the forces they generate, it has to be pretty heavy duty. There was nothing out there to suffice our needs, so I started working with some architects and drawers and filled in that need."

Companies manufacture the equipment based on Martin's designs.

This week, a dumbbell system he designed arrived from California. It uses magnetic free-weights, which snap together, flush with the end of the barbell, and repel each other with a simple twist, eliminating the need for clamps. Each unit has its own rack.

Some of Martin's machines were developed so that injured players can use them, including a new full-body squat and leg-press that has a snap-down leg rest, and an adjustable bench that allows for full extension of the hips.

"If a guy has a knee injury, the machine will work on your other leg to get your other leg stronger," said Connecticut linebacker Danny Lansanah. "He's also got upper-body machines that use air compression instead of weights. Coach Martin gets us stronger, faster. That's what he does."

Martin, 50, has been at Connecticut for 17 years. He said he learned how to tinker and invent from his dad, Joseph Martin, who once built an entire house from the foundation up without a blueprint.

It was in his dad's shop in East Eden, N.Y., where Martin learned how to weld, work with steel and wood, and how things work.

"We didn't have much money," Martin said. "So if something broke, you fixed it."

One of the machines he put in the conditioning room resembles a dancing game at a video arcade, where players must move their feet into certain lighted circles based on a visual cue. It's designed to help the players with their footwork.

Connecticut's players say Martin not only has unique machines, but also comes up with new exercises and techniques based on each player's needs.

"He's a thinker," said defensive tackle Rhema Fuller. "He knows the human body and everything that goes with it."

Edsall, who played football with Martin at Syracuse, said he also gives Connecticut an advantage when it comes to recruiting.

"Our kids love him," Edsall said. "What he has done is take strength and conditioning to a whole new level."

Fullback Deon Anderson credits Martin with improving his bench press from 345 pounds to 440 pounds, and his squat from 440 pounds to 620 pounds.

But Martin prefers to stay out of the limelight. He hasn't applied for a patent for any of his inventions, leaving that to the manufacturer.

And he also refuses to take credit for making any of his players stronger.

"That's all up to the athlete," he said. No matter how nice the facility is, how pretty it looks, how good the equipment is, you still have to push and pull."