Notre Dame DE Bryce Young Focused on Growth and Destruction
The evolution of Bryce Young over the last two years has been fascinating to watch.
In June of 2022, a skinny 6-foot-4 kid came to Notre Dame’s football camp and worked at defensive end for the first time. Fast forward to December 2023, Young signed with Notre Dame and quietly wrapped up his high school career as a five-star prospect.
This spring, Young was on campus for spring football and he got a taste of college football. Six months later, the Charlotte native is a focal point of the Irish defense as he’s played 199 plays and his role continues to increase by the week.
And like every freshman, Young had big goals of finding a way on the field in year one, but it’s not something he was completely focused on after his first 15 practices.
“Coming out of the spring, it was definitely a goal of mine, but I think the mentality was one day at a time, not getting too ahead of it,” explained Young. “I just wanted to make sure I was giving my best each day. That will continue to help me as I move forward.”
The freshman wall is real and is something every player hits at some point. Defensive coordinator Al Golden saw his freshman edge player hit it halfway through the season, but over the last two weeks, Young has come out of it, which is the perfect time as Notre Dame enters a stretch with everything on the line.
“I think he was hitting a wall before the first bye and then Navy, which is really difficult for a freshman,” Golden stated. “It was a lot for him. Since then, he’s settled in nicely. He works hard at it. His effort is relentless on the field. He finishes really well and he does that every day in practice. He’s growing, he’s learning and he’s becoming more dependable.
“He’s just got to stay in the book and keep eliminating the little defects here and there. We’re excited about his growth, maturity and what he brings to our defense.”
Defensive line coach Al Washington has also put time into Young’s development as the season has progressed. In fact, if you get to a game early enough, it’s likely you’ll see Washington and Young going through specific moves or techniques on the field before warmups begin.
“He’s made sure I’ve had clarity,” said Young. “When I have clarity, I play fast. He’s done a great job helping me limit what I’m seeing to one or two things so I can play fast.”
The work to have clarity starts off the field. Young has found a routine and process that works for him after quickly realizing everything matters at this level.
“The way I attack the game, the way I recover and stuff like that,” Young said of what he’s added to his tool belt. “The way I'm in with my teammates, watching film and stuff like that. The way I watch film, the way I take notes. Everything that I do off the field contributes to on the field somewhere. I feel like that's an area where I've really improved.”
What has been Young’s focus as of late? The start of each play.
“I think first off is my get off,” Young explained. “I think as the games go by, the more that I clear my mind, the more I'm able to attack. I think that's the big emphasis. Without attacking, really everything else doesn't matter.
“That's the first thing I look for and I just feel like a big thing I'm working on is staying true to my fundamentals. My effort is gonna carry me through. I think if I rely on my effort and then continue to build on that with my fundamentals, I'll get better each week.”
Effort has been an area Notre Dame’s program hasn’t lacked and hasn’t been known to lack. The prime example was Saturday night. Notre Dame played with great effort and didn’t overlook the small details of the game, while Florida State lacked effort and failed to focus on the any detail of the game.
Young has never lacked effort, but he also admits that the people at Notre Dame have created a mindset that only leads to high effort on and off the field.
“That's why I chose here,” stated Young. “I knew I was going to be around people that were going to help me, motivate me, support me. My coaches are everything. They push me every day, my teammates. If I'm not living up to my standard, then I know they'll let me know and I'm grateful for that.”
Defensive end isn’t the only position Young plays as he can seen on Notre Dame’s special teams units. It’s not hard to spot the 6-foot-7, 250-pounder as he usually knocks someone’s head off on kickoff or tries to attack the punter on punt block.
“Oh, it's awesome,” Young stated. “Coach (Marty) Biagi, he's like, ‘Go make a play.’ And I'm like, 'I got you coach.' So, yeah, that's been pretty fun.”
And yes, if you were wondering, Young does prioritize putting someone on their back on kickoff coverage.
“It's my job,” said Young. “I gotta get my job done and then the destruction comes.”
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