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.”
James Mills, just wait as Zach Harrison continues his ascension in playing time. I’ve been looking forward to seeing him destroy QB’s for 2 years. Always thought he was 100% buckeye,till the end of 2018 when I started getting nervous after it was revealed that mama harrison didn’t care for urban meyer. With another wrecking ball opposite of the Predator, coordinators will be curling up in the fetal position. We just gotta get both of them to quit whiffing on QB’s ducking them., lol
Chase has already missed 2 sacks like that or he would have 10.5 sacks already.unfortunately for chase they will still game plan against him first before worrying about a freshman.
I’m pretty sure that Zach Harrison has an “extreme” future playing defensive end for the Buckeyes. As good as he already is he’s still got a long way to go with his technique. Right now his speed off the edge is tough to deal with. Once he starts putting solid hand technique, get off, strength and a little more size on that frame, he’s going to be a really great player. Week by week he’s getting better. Until then he’s a great back-up for a getting healthier by the day Jonathon Cooper. It’s just too bad the Buckeyes can’t keep Chase around another year. Once Coach Mick really gets to work on Zach’s frame he’s going to be a nightmare to block.
Chase Young is Chase Young. PREDATOR. The thing is though, he’s not sprung to make those plays if the interior defensive tackles aren’t equally disruptive. In this case Jashon Cornell, Davon Hamilton, BB and Haskell Garrett have been problematic for offenses. They aren’t just gap sound they are changing the LOS positively for the defense which makes the QB step back further or doesn’t allow tailbacks to get downhill as quickly as they like to be able to split a lane into the secondary.
Jashon and Davon have been huge catalysts because even if Chase is doubled, or even tripled at points QB’s are having to move their feet and slide away from their pressure. But every bit as important has been the scheming of the linebackers. Last year they were at the LOS or busy being cannon fodder covering slot receivers (the single dumbest scheming ever in the history of linebacker deployment). I’m certain that the first thing Coach Mattison and Coach Washington did when arriving at Ohio State was to tear that rubbish out of the playbook and burn those pages. Now the LB’s have the deployment depth to erase a lot of the quick hitters which forces routes deeper. That makes quick accuracy a requirement for opposition QB’s. It also forces a tic longer for the routes. With a guy like Chase Young on the field that’s a tic an offense can ill afford.
Coordination has been really terrific and we can imagine that it’s going to get even better as Jonathon Cooper gets back to full speed and/or Zach Harrison gets better.
At the heart of it all is Jashon and Davon, who represent the very best DT combination since Tim Anderson and Kenny Peterson.
Chase Young is one terrific player, In some way… so is each ‘other’ player our coaches have ‘put out there’.
‘Synergy’ is a qualitative multiplier of integrated team effort.
Taking/assigning credit during the competition… is a distraction from relentlessly anticipating the changes & dynamics in the tasks at hand in the play. So…keep comparing and contrasting what you are doing ‘in the moment’, in order to exercise your ‘focus’ on the tasks NOW.
‘Feedback’ is the grist of preparation. Hyperbole, credit, yesterday, and tomorrow… are in the Arena distractors. And… ‘to every thing, there is a season’.
‘Encouraging’ is related, if a player needs it to help ‘focus’
What a STRANGE collection of commenters! Sometimes I forget what the subject matter is. All I know is Chase Young is a MAJOR HANDFUL and I wish to hell we could see both he and Zach wreak havoc next season!!!!!
it could potentially be… significant… to distinguish between a cause, and THEE cause….
are we “well on our way” … or is each play/situation, individually and as a team … the next set of challenges?
Does ‘how i feel’ …or whether i think, govern what i ‘expect’ to ‘see’?
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just saw the “Leave a Reply” instructions. “Required Fields are marked”. ;-{)}
Yes.