Notre Dame football's Bryce Young follows in his parents' impressive path
SOUTH BEND — To comprehend the remarkable metamorphosis of Bryce Young, one must look beyond the towering figure he cuts now as a midyear enrollee for Notre Dame football.
Officially listed at 6-foot-7 and 241 pounds as of mid-January, the son of former Irish All-American and NFL Hall of Famer Bryant Young had already packed on 10 more pounds by the end of his first month on campus.
The goal, Bryce said recently, was to be at 260 pounds by the time spring practice starts on March 7.
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Already four inches taller than his famous father, who played defensive tackle at 305 pounds, the five-star defensive end is still growing into his ever-changing frame.
The current version, however, is nowhere near as awkward as the skinny sophomore who played wide receiver at Charlotte Christian School alongside fellow Notre Dame signee Micah Gilbert.
“Going into sophomore year, me and Bryce were probably the same size,” the 6-foot-2 Gilbert said recently. “He was still growing into himself, all clumsy and just bumping into stuff everywhere he goes and he’s playing receiver.”
And not particularly well.
“He can’t catch at all,” Gilbert said with a grin. “Can’t catch for nothin’.”
Said Young: “It was a bad phase.”
That fall of 2021, however, would mark the start of the metamorphosis.
“We’re going through the year, he’s just shooting up,” Gilbert said. “I think he hit 6-5, and we’re like, ‘Yo, what’s going on?’ And then he started playing (defensive) end, and we’re like, ‘OK, he’s still moving a little weird.’ Still looking like he was growing into his body.”
With his father as a valuable resource, Young gradually improved. By the end of his high school career, Young was the classic late-blooming prospect.
Ranked 483rd nationally by at least one major recruiting service heading into his senior year, Young was bumped all the way up to No. 24 by 247Sports.com in its final rankings this month.
“I was there to see all that,” Gilbert said. “I would see him on the field working super hard. I know he worked with his dad a lot. Bryce is going to be the real deal.”
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Bryant Young didn’t play football until he got to Chicago Heights’ Bloom High School, so that was the plan for Bryce as well.
“It was more so for my health, my brain health,” said Bryce Young, who lost his 15-year-old brother Colby to pediatric brain cancer in 2016.
Flag football, basketball and soccer were Bryce Young’s main athletic outlets until he enrolled at Charlotte Christian.
He remembers being 6-2 as a freshman and maybe 6-3 as a sophomore before experiencing “a huge growth spurt” the following summer.
Young grew three more inches by the end of his junior year, reaching 6-6, and by then his wideout days were long over. He played some strongside linebacker early in his prep career before settling in as an edge weapon for his final two years, when the Knights went a combined 18-7 with losses in the state semifinals and final.
Providence Day, with top recruits Jadyn Davis (Michigan) and Jordan Shipp (North Carolina) playing quarterback and receiver, ended Young’s final two seasons, scoring a combined 100 points in those showdowns.
As for his shaky hands, well, Young would like the record to reflect that he did see some time at tight end as a senior, even catching a touchdown pass.
“Staying mobile was one of my big things,” he said. “Being tall, putting weight on, you don’t really notice it. I haven’t really felt like I’ve been able to move less. I can put on weight, and it won’t affect my movement.”
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Notre Dame made the first scholarship offer to Young in June of 2022, eight weeks before his dad was inducted in Canton, Ohio. Listed at just 215 pounds that summer, he remembers what that offer did for his confidence.
“They saw something in me I didn’t see in myself yet,” Young said of the Irish coaching staff. “They threw the offer out, and I was like, ‘Man, if they believe in me, I have to believe in myself more.’ That sparked something for sure.”
Irish coach Marcus Freeman smiled on early signing day when asked what he remembered about that initial encounter.
“Bryce came to camp, and he was tall and skinny,” Freeman said. “But he showed some skillsets that said, ‘OK, this guy is going to be good.’ And now you look at him, and he’s huge. He has the tools.”
Not to mention enviable genes. His mother, Kristin, was a track standout in the 400 meters at Notre Dame, where she earned her degree in psychology.
“Nobody talks about his mom that was a track star,” Freeman said. “He gets it from his mom.”
Despite eventual offers from fellow finalists Michigan, USC and Tennessee – along with Stanford, Penn State, Wisconsin and many others – Bryce Young opted to follow in his parents’ path.
“His last name obviously tells us what his bloodline is like,” Freeman said. “He’s got everything that I’m sure his father had when he came here, and he’s going to be a great player for us. He’s a great young person.”
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Pilot light ignited, Young developed an unquenchable thirst for football knowledge. It just so happened he had the ultimate tutor living under the same roof.
“Bryce worked extremely hard,” Bryant Young told NBC at the All-American Bowl. “I said from Day One, ‘You’re only scratching the surface. As long as you continue to work hard and do the necessary things … it’s going to happen for you.’ He’s humble. … Good things come to those who wait and those who work hard.”
Their collaboration took some time to bear fruit.
“Him being my dad, I had to learn to trust him more,” Bryce Young said. “Just because he's dad doesn't mean he knows more things outside of football. I had to learn to get my pride out of the way to trust in him because he’s been there before.”
The breakthrough came during his sophomore year when he asked his father, who played 14 NFL seasons and helped the San Francisco 49ers win their most recent Super Bowl title, to help him master the intricacies of his craft.
“I was like, ‘You have to break down film; you know this stuff,’" Young said. “We went through a lot of film together, watching old tape, watching guys I like to watch in the NFL today. Just learning keys, learning pre-snap and all that. That was definitely beneficial.”
Bryant Young’s coaching career started at Notre Dame, where he was a graduate assistant in 2009 under Charlie Weis. From there Young coached defensive linemen at San Jose State (2010), Florida (2011-12) and with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons (2017-19).
Last fall, Young, 52, was defensive coordinator for Charlotte Christian. His son called him coach.
“There definitely were some times where we bumped heads because the line would kind of get fuzzy,” Bryce Young said. “There was a fine line between dad and coach. When coach was on, I was all ears. I was listening and taking in everything I could.”
The key was that Bryant Young didn’t put on his coach’s hat until his son asked for help.
“We had strong boundaries, so I’d know which was which,” Bryce Young said. “We used to have a rule where football was on the field or any time I asked. Other than that, he was dad.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for NDInsider.com and is on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football freshman Bryce Young has a Hall of Fame mentor
