INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (92.3 The Fan) – Ohio State defensive end Chase Young plans to let his film do his talking at the NFL Combine.
Young won’t be participating in the workouts this week.
“I don't want to waste time trying to be a combine athlete,” Young said Thursday morning.
Young plans to do positional drills at Ohio State’s pro day next month in Columbus but he won’t be running the 40.
It’s expected that Young will be the second player to come off the board in Las Vegas in April, right after LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
Young feels he should be the first.
“I definitely think I'm the best player in the draft,” Young said. “I think I showed it on my tape. You can go to every game. I think I showed it. I definitely think I'll put my best foot forward this year. I grinded hard. Two of my biggest things are my hard work and dedication and I'm gonna bring those two to the NFL with me.”
Washington owns that No. 2 pick and they’re doing their due diligence on Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa.
“I'm not really worried about who might draft me,” Young said. “I feel it's all in God's hands. Wherever I'll go, I'll go.”
Young led college football with 16 ½ sacks despite also missing two games due to a suspension but found himself answering questions about none of those sacks coming in the final three games against Michigan, Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, and Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl.
“I had a lot of quarterback hits, a lot of pressures,” Young said. “If you know football, you would see that. You'll see how they changed their whole offensive game plan for one guy. A lot of people might not know how to really study a tape or may not know how to watch football, but if you know, then you know I made an impact in those games.
“Being the best defensive end isn't about sacks, it's about being the most disruptive player on the field. You can do that without having a sack.”
New position – The Browns are hiring Shaun Huls as director of high performance, a new position created on head coach Kevin Stefanski’s staff.
Huls spent the previous seven seasons with the Eagles where EVP/GM Andrew Berry spent 2019.
Huls will work in and assist with the strength and conditioning program, sports science as well as player nutrition.
Mayfield memory – Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray was asked for his best Baker Mayfield story by Scott Petrak of the Elyria-Chronicle Telegram and Brownszone.com Thursday morning.
Murray didn’t disappoint with his response.
“Man, we go through offseason workout and we have this little deal where we do two or three seven-on-sevens, player-run seven-on-seven deals throughout this offseason,” Murray said. “And I remember this one time, he kinda had like a sprained thumb or something like that, he kind of hurt his hand a little bit, so he wasn’t participating in the seven-on-seven deal that day. I just remember that day obviously he wasn’t participating, so the defense, we were really one-up on them. So we were winning and we were talking a lot of noise that day. And I just remember literally like as soon as we got up 4-1 on them, and then all of a sudden Bake just was like, all right, give me the ball. He goes in and scores like four touchdowns right off the bat. And I’m just like, bro, this dude is special. Bake, that’s my guy, love him to death, he’s a great teammate.”
Hot air – Syracuse linebacker Kendall Coleman can’t help but laugh at the irony of playing in the Carrier Dome in college.
“The Carrier Dome, it’s an awesome environment, a crazy atmosphere,” Coleman said. “It gets ridiculously hot in there even though Carrier is an air conditioning company, there’s no air conditioner in the dome. It’s funny, right? A lot of people don’t know that. I didn’t know that before I went there until I showed up for that first practice. We were doing walk through, and I’m in there and sweat’s tricking and it’s just a walk through.”
During media scrums in Indianapolis curveballs get thrown at prospects by reporters and Coleman hit one out of the park after being asked if he plays like the Hulk.
“My favorite Avenger is Spider Man – or he’s technically not an Avenger – I watch all those movies so I’m like technical with it, but my favorite of them is Spider Man. I can definitely see the Hulk. Growing up my moma always said when she was explaining to other people, she was like, ‘Kendall is the nicest kid you have ever met but then he puts that helmet on ad he becomes a completely different person, a kid I’ve never met before.’ So I guess, like you said, the Hulk is probably more fitting than Spider Man.”
Be like ‘Bron – LeBron James’ fandom for Ohio State is well known, along with his admiration of Young.
“It means a lot,” Young said. “I never thought the best player in the world would be a fan of me. It's a blessing. Everything here is a blessing. I'm just forever grateful for it.”
As Young turns pro, he aims to emulate James’ stature in pro sports as a role model.
“The best athlete on the earth,” Young said. “Definitely somebody you want to be like on the field. Me on the field, him on the court. Off the field and off the court too. Obviously, LeBron James has never had issues off the court. He's just an all-around good guy.”
