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Inside The Huskies

For Ah Deong Yang, the Husky Practice Within the Practice

The freshman offensive lineman was subjected to lengthy conditioning in fall camp.
Dan Raley|
Ah Deong Yang looks spent after the Huskies' second fall practice ends.
Ah Deong Yang looks spent after the Huskies' second fall practice ends. | Dan Raley

Halfway through the University of Washington's second fall football practice on Friday, freshman offensive lineman Ah Deong Yang was led away from everyone else on the East practice field and given special attention.

Listed at 6-foot-3 and 330 pounds, and likely heavier than that, the first-year player from Puyallup High School was hauled off by assistant strength and conditioning coach Lance Ancar and directed to his own customized practice within the practice.

Yang, a fall rather than winter enrollee, didn't have the benefit of a Husky winter in the weight room.

For the next hour, while his teammates stopped and started in various drills all around him, Yang went through continuous conditioning.

With an hour of practice remaining, he got behind a cart loaded with heavy weights and pushed and pushed.

Ah Deong Yang is shown on an Oregon State recruiting trip.
Ah Deong Yang is shown on an Oregon State recruiting trip. | Oregon State

At this point, he looked absolutely spent.

However, he was just getting started.

Trailing Ancar, Yang alternately jogged and walked around the circumference of the football field.

Then he did it again. And again. And again,.

He poured water over his head on the fourth lap and spoke with a woman trainer.

He briefly ran across the back of the north end zone and walked back while Ancar worked with center Landen Hatchett.

He took off both of his heavy black knee braces and put them next to his helmet that sat on a big blue pad.

Then it was back to full laps around the ongoing practice.

In all, Yang completed a dozen laps, actually looking stronger as he went rather than in need of a break.

With practice winding down, he climbed atop a stationary bicycle and did about seven sets of riding as hard as he could for 10 to 15 seconds, with his arms flailing.

For the full hour, he never once stopped moving and rested.

Ah Deong Yang stood for a photo after his torturous fall practice.
Ah Deong Yang stood for a photo after his torturous fall practice. | Dan Rale

Finally, it was over.

Yang followed his teammates to ice baths set up inside Husky Stadium, peeled off his purple jersey and climbed in.

As he walked to the locker room, carrying all of his equipment, he looked refreshed and hopeful.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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