Chase Young has officially been recognized as the Big Ten's best defensive player this year.
In what should have been an easy choice for any All-Big Ten voter, the junior Ohio State defensive end was named Tuesday as both the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year.
Chase Young of @OhioStateFB named 2019 #B1GFootball Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year. pic.twitter.com/WEvISYsIx0
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) December 3, 2019
Young becomes Ohio State's first Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year since Joey Bosa in 2014. He's the fifth Buckeye to win Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year honors in Larry Johnson's six-year tenure as Ohio State's defensive line coach. Bosa won that award in both 2014 and 2015, Tyquan Lewis won in 2016 and Nick Bosa won in 2017.
Young is also a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection along with fellow All-Big Ten selections Malik Harrison, Jeff Okudah and Jordan Fuller, second-team All-Big Ten selection Damon Arnette and third-team All-Big Ten selection DaVon Hamilton and Shaun Wade on Ohio State's defense.
In just 10 regular-season games, Young recorded 38 total tackles with 19.5 tackles for loss and 16.5 sacks, breaking Ohio State's single-season record for sacks in the process. Those 16.5 sacks also lead the entire Football Bowl Subdivision, while his 19.5 tackles for loss lead the conference and rank sixth nationally.
“I could go on for hours about Chase,” Ryan Day said Tuesday on Big Ten Network after Young was named Defensive Player of the Year. “This is a special young man. His character's shown throughout the season, but on the field, he's been completely dominant. What a year he's had."
Young is also in the running for several national awards as a finalist for the Maxwell Award, which honors college football's best player at any position, and the Bednarik and Nagurski awards, both of which honor the nation's best defensive player. He is also one of three candidates from Ohio State, along with quarterback Justin Fields and running back J.K. Dobbins, to potentially earn an invitation to next week's Heisman Trophy ceremony.
