By all accounts, the return of strength and conditioning coach Aaron Ausmus has transformed the USC locker room this offseason. Just don’t use the term “work out” around him.
Ausmus has instituted a rule that every time “work out” is said in place of “strength train,” the offender owes 10 pushups. Sophomore safety Talanoa Hufanga slipped up, perhaps more than once, while a guest on the Trojan Talk podcast Monday as he discussed the team’s newfound commitment to the weight room.
“That’s where we spend, for all this time right now, that’s 90 percent of what we do right now, is work out. Sorry, I owe 10 pushups for that. I’ll get mine in after this,” Hufanga said.
“... I probably said it a couple more times, I just didn’t catch myself until now. Double-A will hear this and make me do my 10.”
Any why exactly is the term taboo for the Trojans?
“It’s kind of a laziness term, is what Double-A thinks of it,” Hufanga explained. “When we think of strength training we’re coming in for a reason. We’re training for something great.”
Hufanga has been training as hard as ever of late as he recovers from a second broken collarbone, which he suffered midway through spring practice in late March. His initial fracture, occurring five months prior, interrupted a promising freshman season in which he catapulted from fifth-string to full-time.
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Despite appearing in only eight games (and making just five starts), he finished fifth on the team in tackles (51), while recording 3.5 tackles for loss and four pass breakups. Hufanga was as impactful as any USC freshman last year and projects to be one of the best players on the Trojans this year.
The elephant in the room, of course, is his health. Hufanga revealed Monday that he’s been “fully cleared” and would take the field this weekend if USC had a game.
“The coaches would let me go out, the trainers would let me go out. It’s just all up to me and how I feel,” he said. “... They wanted to clear me ahead of time to feel what it’s like to do all the workouts and feel that rush so that when it comes to contact I’m not just thrown in the fire. (When) Aug. 1 comes around, I’ll be ready to go, so I’m just excited.”
Check out the podcast for the entire interview, as Hufanga sheds light on how Clancy Pendergast has modified his scheme, defending the Air Raid, his expectations for 2019, an unpredictable freshman year, and his journey from Corvallis, Oregon to USC.
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