Former Duke Big Man Clarifies Reason for Presence at Practice

The first official Duke basketball injury report of the season, which was released prior to the No. 6-ranked Blue Devils' 85-79 home win over the unranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday, listed only one player being out of commission in graduate transfer center and seldom-used reserve Ifeanyi Ufochukwu.

And that report, paired with the info revealed on the latest episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, explains why one of the program's recent big men, former two-year Duke basketball graduate transfer and beloved Blue Devil backup center Ryan Young, appeared in the team's practice photos earlier in the week.

"Back here filling in at practice," Young, who also returned to his old post as the podcast's host for one special episode, said to this year's host and his guest for the show in Duke basketball junior guard Caleb Foster. "[Ufochukwu] went down with a knee injury a couple of days ago. So, scout team big for a couple of days..."

As Ryan Young explained, suiting up for the scout team is no joke given the 2025-26 Blue Devils' powerful cast of frontcourt talents.

"Your bigs stand out this year," the 26-year-old Young, nowadays a senior associate for the Boston Consulting Group in Durham, told Foster. "I came back...I was rusty, and there's no dropoff in any of your bigs. I remember, like, I was playing on scout team so I could get every rep, and the three bigs cycle through, but it's just one defensive demon after the next — rim protectors and everything. So, no breaks."

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— Duke Men’s Basketball (@DukeMBB) December 29, 2025

Indeed, it must be a daunting task to battle the likes of the ACC Player of the Year frontrunner in freshman power forward Cameron Boozer and a much-improved sophomore starter at center in Patrick Ngongba II. Nevertheless, it sounds like Young is just a call away whenever Jon Scheyer and his staff may need a helping hand in preparing their big men for game action in the future.

Next Duke Basketball Opponent Awaits in Tallahassee

Duke is now getting ready for its first conference road bout of the season. The Blue Devils (12-1, 1-0 ACC) will be in the Tucker Center on Saturday to square off against the unranked Florida State Seminoles (7-7, 0-1 ACC) at 3:45 p.m. ET (CBS).

Duke basketball forward Cameron Boozer — Dec 16, 2025; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) shoots a free throw during the second half at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils won 97-73. Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images | Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

They will then travel to Kentucky a few days later to take on the No. 16 Louisville Cardinals (11-2, 1-0 ACC) in the KFC Yum! Center at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN).

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