Chase Young is well on his way to one of the greatest seasons and careers of any Ohio State defensive player in history.
Through just six games, Young already has 8.5 sacks, putting him on pace to break Vernon Gholston’s single-season OSU record of 14.
He also has an outside shot at threatening the school’s career sacks record by the end of the year.
He’s a contender to win a handful of national awards for defensive players, and if the Heisman actually went to “the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity” like it purports to, he would have a decent chance at that as well.
Instead, he’ll likely have to settle for a top-5 spot in the 2020 NFL Draft, and the knowledge that his impact on the field stretches well beyond the box score.
You may have noticed that the photo at the top of this article features OSU linebacker Baron Browning sacking Michigan State’s Brian Lewerke. It’s not the most obvious choice for an article about someone other than Browning, but if you look just behind Browning’s helmet, there is Young.
He appears far from the action, but was really the cause of everything you see.
You can watch that play below – it happened on a 3rd-and-14 near the end of the third quarter of the Michigan State game.
Watch as Young rushes inside, drawing the attention of not only the right guard, but also the right tackle, who jabs at him to slow him down.
But as he does that, Browning comes clean off the edge, gets around the tackle who took that one step inside, and has a free shot at Lewerke.
Just the threat of Young was enough to open things up for Browning.
Another example came earlier in the MSU game. On 2nd-and-7, Michigan State tried to run a speed option, but Young played it perfectly. He was in the backfield immediately and forced a quick pitch without ever leaving the running back.
Because he was so close to the back, the pitch was bad, the ball came free and the Buckeyes recovered.
Again, on the stat sheet it’s just a fumble by Lewerke, recovered by OSU’s Davon Hamilton. But Young’s fingerprints were all over the turnover.
Even when he’s not clobbering quarterbacks or forcing fumbles, Young can impact the opponent’s game plan just by being on the field.
OSU co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley got a huge smile on his face when he was asked about Young this week. (Seriously, watch the video at the bottom of this post. Hafley’s reaction is so noticeable that you hear people laughing.)
Hafley had previously talked about why Justin Fields is such a pain for opposing defenses to deal with. For a defensive coach, having a player like Chase Young at your disposal is the exact opposite. He can take away some of the most effective pass routes opponents run just by getting to the quarterback.
“When you watch tape, a lot of routes look really good. There’s a lot of deeper-developing routes that happen down the field that you sit there and you watch early in the week and you say ‘if they can run that one, that’s going to be really tough.’ And then you look at another one and you say ‘wow, if they can run that one, that’s going to be really tough,'” Hafley said.
“And then you start to realize when the D-line gets after people, those deeper-developing routes, they don’t exist. They have to go to shorter routes and quicker concepts, which you guys have seen. So having players like that up front, they help out a lot because you won’t have to defend all those deeper things that happen down the field that are harder to defend. Which is why I say that your secondary is only as good as the guys up front. Because they take a lot of that stuff away.”
Opposing coaches know that as well. Young is the the subject of weekly quotes that make him sound supernatural from staffs who dread having to face him.
MSU’s Mark Dantonio said, “I really haven’t thought of him in the human context.”
Nebraska’s Scott Frost called him “a creature.”
This week Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald, a two-time winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation’s top defensive player, weighed in.
“He’s a great player,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a first-round talent and he’s playing like a first-rounder. I think he’s healthy this year and it shows. He can do everything. He’s one of the best I’ve seen in this league. We’re going to have our hands full.”
