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Patric Young and the art of the reverse keg stand

Florida Gators center Patric Young celebrates after being fouled by the Louisville Cardinals in the second half during the NCAA men's West Regional basketball tournament in Phoenix

Florida Gators center Patric Young (R) celebrates after being fouled by the Louisville Cardinals in the second half during the NCAA men’s West Regional basketball tournament in Phoenix, Arizona March 24, 2012. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BASKETBALL)

REUTERS

Gators forward/center Patric Young is one of the more impressive physical specimens in college ball. He most likely spends plenty of time lifting weights under the care of Florida’s trainer, observes a healthy high-protein/low fat diet and has a well of genetic good fortune undergirding all of the care he’s taking with his body.

Of course, he’s a college kid, so he knows his way around a keg as well.

Compared to his fellow students at UF, he’s a bit of an amateur, it seems. Instead of filling a red plastic cup with overly-aerated suds, Young incorporates the beer keg into a hardcore workout we’ve never seen anywhere else.

While most college kids of my acquaintance build upper-body strength while suspended heels-up, face down over the tap, Young picks up the full keg (no easy feat) and basically does repeated reps of the snatch, clean and jerk with it. Andy Hutchins of Alligator Army explains that the endearing qualities of the Gator workout plan go beyond what we can see in the video linked above.

(T)he thing I like most about the basketball team’s training regimen isn’t that we get videos sure to make all of the Pat-loving fans (they’re legion, trust me) swoon: it’s that Erik Murphy, the team’s senior in the frontcourt, is sending littletweets of encouragement, which strike me as the sorts of things a leader does. It’s hard to believe that the guy who was arrested for burglary almost exactly a year ago could be Florida’s leader in 2012-13, but I’m more and more convinced that’s what will happen.

Billy Donovan endured a couple of tough years after his repeat titles and subsequent flirtation with the Orlando Magic. He’s had his Gators on the comeback trail of late, and his ability to keep talents like Murphy and Young in the program and working hard all year round may mean he’s got at least one more championship in him.

Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He likes to crack wise and talk about college basketball @stfhoops on Twitter.