Terrance Lang's commitment to cardio is already paying off

BOULDER — For Terrance Lang, one big difference in his offseason training in 2020 stands above the rest.

“I had no access to actual weights, so that was kind of difficult,” Lang told reporters last week.

The defensive stayed in Boulder for most of the offseason, which meant that — like many other student-athletes at Colorado — he didn’t have access to proper training equipment. Instead of lifting weights, Lang found himself working on his cardio.

“I was just running hills,” Lang said. “There’s a lot of hills out here in Boulder. There are so many sandpits and parks. It’s such an active city, so we were just running. A couple of teammates, we would get together and just run.”

The running seems to have paid off.

Colorado strength and conditioning coach Drew Wilson tweeted Wednesday that Lang was the fastest lineman on either side of the ball in Week 6 of offseason activities. Football players wear a sports bra-like garment that includes a heart rate monitor and tracks players’ top speeds during workouts.

Lang, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 280 pounds, clocked in at 19.1 miles per hour, just ahead of Will Sherman and Frank Fillip.

Because of his build, Lang has a clear path to a professional career. If he builds on his production from a year ago (four tackles for loss and four sacks), it won’t be long before pro scouts are making trips to Boulder to see him.

And, of course, the Buffs will be beneficiaries.

“I feel like last season gave me a lot of confidence coming into this season,” Lang said. “I definitely look forward to being a dominant player on the defense and doing everything I can to help the defense be as good as we can be.”

And isn’t just looking out for himself. He sees the Buffs’ defensive line as one of the strengths of the team, and he says new defensive line coach Chris Wilson has big-time expectations for his group this season.

“I feel like he wants us — as a position group — to set the tone on the team,” Lang said.