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Ahsan Huff Owns the Rebound

There are many athletes in different sports with remarkable motors. 6-foot-6, 188 junior Ahsan Huff of Vanden High has an unstoppable one, likely akin to a Ferrari type or maybe a Lamborghini model. Because his is relentless, leading to his coach at Vanden High, Micheal Holloway to say he is "best rebounder in all of northern Cali and it ain’t close."

So why is he labeled the foremost rebounding young man in Nor Cal?

Holloway offered, "Ahsan has proven over the years that even a box out won’t stop him from getting a rebound. We’ve had teams try using two people to box him out and it still wasn’t enough. His motor, his wing span, and his ability to rebound out of his area is what makes him one of the best rebounders in not only Northern California, but in the state. He’s a great young player, but a better person."

"I'm known for my rebounding and having a motor and it boosts my team a lot," Huff explained. It absolutely deflates an opposing team to play good defense for a period of time and yet have the ball remain with the team taking the first shot because of an offensive rebound. How does he do it? "I predict where the ball is going and move accordingly. I didn't play much and was on the bench a lot as a freshman. But I became more aggressive in my sophomore year and began rebounding a whole lot." Now, he's an absolute vacuum. His nickname should be Hoover.

His game consists of getting close to the basket. "My whole game is driving to the basket, getting closer in. I shoot a lot of free throws."

He missed his junior season with a torn ACL and such is driving him even more to make up for lost time.

His best basketball moment came in his sophomore year "when we started out 0-7 or 0-8 before some team bonding activity resulted in a turnaround. Getting closer to each other resulted in a greater understanding and "I'm really proud of what we accomplished winning section." The Vanden crew went on a 10 game winning streak late in the season before falling 42-41 to Elk Grove in the final game.

What's interesting is his family has a multitude of basketball and football players. Ahsan played football for two years but had a brother involved with AAU basketball. That did the trick.

He now sports a 3.3 grade point average but it wasn't always so. "I started off bad, getting two Ds my first semester." He is looking to major in either business or mechanical engineering.

Huff's preference is to stay local or regional in order to be able to play in front of family and friends. As he put it, "not too many people I know can fly to games to see me play." But an attraction remains to heading out of town to play college basketball.

He credits his mother -- "definitely my Mom for reassuring me that everything is going to be all right." He also gives credit to his older brother "being there for me and for making films of me to use for recruiting." Huff's desire is to "go to a college that wants me a lot." He has talked with Cal State East Bay.

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