If the Florida coaching staff accidentally found itself lining up alongside their players, Jaye Howard knows who he’d want to pick up.
For any Gators defensive lineman, the answer should be obvious. Their position coach, Bryant Young, has lived the life they can only dream of, at least right now. All-America selection at Notre Dame, top-10 pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, Super Bowl winner, four-time Pro Bowler, member of the 1990s All-Decade Team, NFL Comeback Player of the Year — Young has more to his name than most players could fit on a checklist of career goals.
Including, apparently, ample aggression left over from his 14-year career with the 49ers.
“We had a stretch where some of the D-tackles were coming off soft,” Howard said last Tuesday. “Never seen it in my life; the guy just exploded. And I’m a senior; I’ve been around. But it brought chills to my body just hearing the man’s voice echo. He’s so big.”
Young’s passion has impressed Howard’s teammates, and his impact could be the difference in Florida’s season this year. At media day Aug. 5, coach Will Muschamp pointed to the defensive line as the key for every dominant Southeastern Conference team.
The SEC squads who won national championships the last five years have averaged 94.5 rushing yards allowed per game and 33.4 sacks. Florida, by comparison, surrendered 130.6 yards per game and registered just 21 sacks in 2010.
On paper, Young seems like the perfect man to inject life up front, and players have raved about working with an All-Pro. But there still remains one lingering question: Can Bryant Young coach?
On a staff with a combined 165 years of experience, Young has only been in the business since 2009. Travaris Robinson, Florida’s 29-year-old defensive backs coach, is a decade Young’s junior, yet even he has been working with a whistle for five years longer than Young has.
Like every other Florida assistant, Young has not been made available to the media this year, but in an interview with a newspaper in South Bend, Indiana, where he became a graduate assistant at Notre Dame in 2009, Young admitted to getting bit by the coaching bug.
At this point in his unproven coaching career, Young’s greatest strength seems to be his passion, something that can’t really be measured.
What can be measured, however, has been far from impressive. Young was the defensive line coach at San Jose State last season, where the Spartans registered just 24 sacks and allowed 203.2 rushing yards per game — second-worst in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference.
Of course, Young wasn’t given much to work with: San Jose State gave up 259.2 yards on the ground in 2009 and notched just 20 sacks.
Although, Young did architect a five-and-a-half-sack improvement for Spartans sophomore defensive end Travis Johnson.
For now, though, Young will continue to be the coach with the most unproven track record.
But, perhaps more valuable, he has support from his fellow coaches.
Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn coached Young in San Francisco, and Charlie Weis and Frank Verducci worked with him at Notre Dame.
And, of course, there’s that whole NFL thing.
“Having the opportunity to play in the league kind of opened some guys’ eyes because a lot of guys aspire to play on that level,” Young told the Gators’ official website in April. “They may take to you a little bit.”
Contact Tyler Jett at tjett@alligator.org.
Florida defensive lineman Jaye Howard, a senior, said defensive line coach Bryant Young, 39, could still suit up and play despite his age.
