DATE: Wednesday, July 30, 1997              TAG: 9707300672

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD.                    LENGTH:   79 lines

LANG PASSES THE SKINS' TESTS DURING HIS FIRST DAY IN CAMP THE DEFENSIVE END IMPRESSED IN DRILLS AND KNEW THE PLAYBOOK BUT DID STRUGGLE AT TIMES.

The Washington Redskins gave Kenard Lang a variety of pop quizzes on his first day as their new millionaire left defensive end.

The first actually was handed to him late Monday night, not long after he ended a 17-day holdout and signed a five-year, $5.775 million deal. He had until after breakfast to turn it in to defensive coordinator Mike Nolan.

``It was all about the defense, where I'm supposed to line up, where the linebackers drop in pass coverage, what the players at the other positions do,'' Lang said. ``There were about 25 questions on the test, and after a while I felt like I was taking a math test. My head starting hurting a little.''

The second came at the start of the afternoon practice. Coach Norv Turner called everyone to midfield - defense on one side, offense on the other - then summoned Lang, offensive tackle Ozell Powell and running back Kerry Joseph. Quarterback Trent Green handed the ball to Joseph in the backfield, and Powell fired out at Lang. But the 6-foot-4, 277-pound Lang easily fended off Powell, infiltrated the backfield and dropped Joseph with a clean, neat tackle around the legs.

Players from both sides yelled and screamed. Cornerback Cris Dishman jumped and slapped Lang's helmet so hard you could hear it in the stands.

``That was fun,'' Lang said later. ``Reminded me of Pop Warner football. I'm glad I did well there, because I feel like the first play is how you're going to play for the year.''

Lang wasn't nearly as dominating the rest of practice. Running with the second unit, he had trouble getting past Shar Pourdanesh and once was driven about five yards backwards by Pourdanesh and tight end Chris Sanders.

Lang also had some problems with line coach Earl Leggett's ``up-down'' drills, in which linemen jog in place, then drop onto their stomachs, then back onto the feet for more jogging on Leggett's command of ``up'' or ``down.'' After a set of a dozen or so, Lang became increasingly slow regaining his feet.

``They told me, `Kenard, you better be ready for the up-downs,' '' Lang said, laughing. ``I didn't do any of those at home. After five or six of those, I said, `Lord, have mercy.' ''

Otherwise, Lang was telling the truth when he said he was in good shape. He'd rise at 8:30 a.m., run a mile, bike three or four miles, then lift weights. After lunch, he'd play golf, then study the playbook til bedtime.

``They can fire me as easily as they hired me,'' he said. ``I've got to take care of my responsibilities.''

Several times, Nolan called a zone blitz, in which Lang is supposed to drop into short coverage while the middle linebacker blitzes. He handled the assignment well enough to draw praise from Nolan.

``If they ask me to run 10 plays, I'll do 20,'' Lang vowed. ``I realize I have to do everything they tell me for me to be successful.''

He's an affable young man who bears a striking facial resemblance to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal. Being a millionaire hasn't sunk in yet, and he said he had no special plans for the money other than to buy his mother and father new cars.

``I don't look at it like I'm rich,'' he said. ``If anything, the money is going to make me more self-conscious because I know everyone will be looking at me. With money, my philosophy is to manage it right because if I take care of it, I can live off it the rest of my life.

``If I was to celebrate, the only thing I'd do was go out on a boat, sit in the water and think about how fortunate I am. I could have gone down a lot of roads when I was in high school, but my parents showed me the way with a lot of love and a lot of discipline. My daddy gave me some whippings with the belt, but I understood why.''

Someone joked with Lang that his father Calvin had to use the belt because his son was five inches taller and 65 pounds heavier. How would he feel if Redskins line coach Earl Leggett tried a similar tactic?

``Coach is big enough that he doesn't need that,'' Lang said of the former All-American defensive tackle and long-time NFL veteran. ``I think if he tried that, I'd have to say something.''

He stopped and smiled.

``Then again, maybe I wouldn't,'' he added. ``He's the boss.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Kenard Lang arrived at Skins camp in shape and ready to play. ``They

can fire me as easily as they hired me,'' he said.

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