All it took was one day after Ohio State’s January defeat to Alabama in the national championship game for the Buckeye coaching staff to formulate a new role for Craig Young.
It was either the next day or the same week, Young said Monday, that all of the Ohio State defensive coaches approached him alongside Ryan Day with the plan for a position switch that has the potential to shake up the Buckeyes’ back seven considerably.
The staff didn’t label it the bullet position in those preliminary discussions, but Young is doing much more than just playing safety for the Buckeyes this preseason, and has found a tangible conviction in his abilities while doing so.
“I always thought that I was gonna be one of those athletes that played different positions in college,” Young said. “It didn’t start until about this year, and I’m really liking it actually. I’m enjoying it, it’s me, it’s what I did in high school. I feel very comfortable with it, and I’m moving very comfortably with it. I’m more confident in this position where I’m at now.”
A three-star athlete prospect from the class of 2019, Young said he actually expected to play safety for the Buckeyes upon entering the program. However, the Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, native logged snaps at linebacker for the past two seasons despite an untraditionally long frame for the position and deceptive speed to boot.
“He’s super fast, a lot of people don’t know that,” fellow bullet Ronnie Hickman said Monday. “I don’t know if you guys know that, but he’s really fast.”
In fact, Young voiced minor disputes with several of his measurables at Ohio State on Monday. Listed on the official team roster at 6-foot-3, the third-year hybrid defender asserted Monday that he stands at a full 6-foot-4. Young has seen reports online that have his 40-yard-dash time clocked at 4.6 seconds, but said he’s a “low 4.4 guy.”
“They don’t really know how fast I am,” Young said. “They got the times mixed up on Twitter and Google and stuff. But I know the real time.”
He may still have to prove some naysayers wrong about the speed, not that many seem to be doubting him, but Young’s standout physical characteristics are impossible to mistake. Young said he weighs anywhere from 223 to 225 pounds, and if truly 6-foot-4, he’d be taller than any other scholarship player in the Buckeyes’ back seven – including 6-foot-3 corner Ryan Watts, who defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs has called the “tallest corner I’ve ever coached.”
Young said he often studies former Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor and former Clemson hybrid linebacker Isaiah Simmons due to their similarly rangy frames, and those those traits are no doubt what have helped lure Coombs and company into exploring the possibilities of Young’s future on a pass defense that ranked among a handful of the worst in America in 2020.
“I’m very versatile,” Young said. “I can fit in the box, I can guard, I can go guard in deep thirds. I can do pretty much anything that a 5-9 player can do, and I’m just 6-4. I just say being fast and being physical in the box. So that’s what makes me.”
As a bullet, Young said he works mostly with Matt Barnes and the Buckeyes’ safeties during practice sessions. If he does spend time with Al Washington’s linebacker unit, it’s on his own time, Young said.
Matching up with quicker players in coverage has been the toughest part of the transition, but Young said he’s made waves since the idea was originally introduced to him. At first, the Buckeye coaches may have been more confident in the move than he was.
That’s all changed since the spring, though.
“In April I wasn’t very comfortable, I can say that. But right now, I feel comfortable,” Young said. “Right now I’m getting it, and it’s all the help from my brothers and everything. My brothers helped me with that confidence, they encouraged (me). Everybody knows that I’m new to the B.I.A., so they encouraged me to go hard. That just builds my confidence, but right now I’d say I’m probably more confident than I’ve ever been at Ohio State.”
Young said receiving positive affirmations from several position coaches this offseason has effectively put a battery in his back to work harder ahead of the new year. Even if those same coaches are still keeping the cards close to their chest when it comes to starting lineups or concrete defensive alignments, Young has seen plenty of first-team reps this preseason, indicating just how important a piece he could be for Ohio State in 2021.
“That is a confidence-booster,” Young said. “That’s also another way just to make me go harder. That’s just telling me I’m one of the persons on the team that’s actually needed. It really just builds up confidence and makes me go hard when other coaches believe that and other players believe it. Sometimes as a player, players don’t believe until somebody else tells them.”
