At nearly every step in Bryce Young’s football journey, people tried to turn the uniquely talented quarterback into something he’s not.
Though much has been made about Young’s diminutive stature, the Panthers’ 5-10 quarterback correctly and wittily said before the NFL Draft his height wasn’t something he could change as he was done growing. But as Young climbed the QB ladder in talent-rich Southern California, coaches saw something in Young they believed he could change — a laid-back personality some confused with an indifferent approach.
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“Almost at every level, a coach tried to make him be this kind of yelling, screaming, vocal, demonstrative leader. Because a lot of times people think that that’s actual leadership,” said Craig Young, Bryce’s father. “And if that is authentic to who you are, if it’s not an act, then yes, that is appropriate. But if it’s not authentic to who your personality is, then you’re putting on a show. And that’s not really leadership.”
“Sometimes people mistook his calm, laid-back, relaxed demeanor and him having fun as not being serious,” Craig Young added. “And what we had to convey is that most people perform the best when you’re relaxed and confident in your zone and in your routine and feel comfortable.”
Rather than becoming a yeller, Young stayed in his comfort zone — exhibited by a quiet confidence and an ability to straddle the line between being focused and having fun on the field.
Or as Panthers outside linebacker Brian Burns colorfully described Young: “He’s like humble but I-know-I’m-the-s— type of swag. He knows he’s got it, but he’s humble with it.”
That subtle swag is what allowed the former Alabama quarterback to remain calm in the biggest moments on college football’s biggest stage, like when Young flashed a smile before a fourth-down completion on a score-tying drive in the final minute at Auburn in the 2021 Iron Bowl.
And it’s what makes his new Panthers teammates confident Young won’t be overwhelmed as a rookie quarterback starting in the NFL — well, that and his playmaking and improvisational skills in the pocket.
Donte Jackson didn’t participate in the Panthers OTAs or minicamp as the veteran cornerback continued rehabbing his surgically repaired Achilles. So Jackson spent a lot of time watching, paying particular attention to the team’s new quarterback and No. 1 pick. Jackson is one of the Panthers’ most talkative players. Young is different.
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“You’re not gonna get a whole lot from him verbally, but you’re gonna get a whole lot from him physically. He’s a really good player,” Jackson said. “You can just tell he’s been in a lot of high-stress moments. He played at a big program. He played in some big games.”
It doesn’t get any bigger than Alabama-Auburn, one of college football’s greatest rivalries that often has SEC and national championship implications.
But Young wasn’t fazed by the history or intensity of the rivalry during his first Iron Bowl, even when the Crimson Tide took over at its 3-yard line trailing 10-3 with 1:32 remaining. After driving into Auburn territory, Alabama faced a fourth-and-7 at the Tigers’ 42 when CBS showed Young preparing to take the shotgun snap and … smiling.
Young found Jahleel Billingsley for a 14-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, on third-and-10, he connected with Ja’Corey Brooks on a score-tying, 28-yard touchdown pass in a game the Tide would win 24-22 in four overtimes.
“(The smile) was just genuine in the moment, like what else do you dream of?” Young said during an interview after the Panthers’ final minicamp practice two weeks ago. “You’re in the Iron Bowl. There’s however many seconds left. Third-and-10, you throw a fade for a (touchdown). When you’re dropping back when you’re 6 years old, that’s what you picture. And I got to live it.”
Bryce Young tries to elude Auburn’s Chandler Wooten in the 2021 Iron Bowl. (Gary Cosby Jr. / USA Today)Panthers linebacker Chandler Wooten, who had five tackles for Auburn in that Iron Bowl, talked with Young about the game after Young arrived in Charlotte. Their conversation did little to ease the sting for Wooten a year and a half later.
“I still think about that game all the time. Just the fact that he was able to go out there, we had them down 10-0 late in the fourth quarter, just to stay poised like he did on the road in a hostile environment,” he said. “Our defense was playing really great ball. So for him to go down 99 yards and smile before he did that, that was heartbreaking.”
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Bumper Pool, a Panthers undrafted free agent, faced Young twice in college while at Arkansas. In the first matchup, Young completed 31 of 40 passes for 559 yards and five touchdowns in the Crimson Tide’s 42-35 win. Young’s passing yardage broke an Alabama single-game record that had stood for 52 years.
“The first time we played them it was at their place and the game was relatively pretty close. And the entire game Bryce’s heart rate didn’t get over like 60 beats. He was just like the calmest player on the field,” said Pool, a linebacker who left Arkansas as the Razorbacks’ career leader in tackles.
“I remember we were trying to get after him in the blitz. And he would sit there, take it all in, move where he needed to. He’d always have a little option on the side to dump it down,” Pool added. “It was just almost like the game was slower for him rather than every other person on the field.”
Young injured his shoulder at Arkansas last fall — his only injury in two seasons as Alabama’s starter. Pool said Young would talk with Arkansas defenders as he jogged on to the field.
“It’s not even trash talk. It’s just kind of like, ‘You saw that?’ Just real subtle,” Pool said. “He was having fun, you could tell. But he kind of brings the demeanor of being that nice guy off the field, on the field. But there’s just a confidence about him.”
Young, a psychology major at Alabama, laughed when asked about finding that competitive sweet spot where he can be both confident and collected.
“It’s kind of hard to explain, to be honest with you. But I think for me it’s just a mixture of being cognitive, knowing what’s going on, having fun and enjoying myself,” he said. “And then finding that fine line of mixing that with still being locked in, still being focused — not being negligent but having fun. It’s hard to explain. I kind of know what it feels like.”
Craig Young recalled a time when his son might have been a little too cocky. Ranked among the top quarterbacks in the country (he would be the No. 1 dual-threat QB by his senior year in high school), Young was posting pictures of himself on social media and enjoying the attention, his dad said.
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“Sometimes you could kind of feel that maybe things were a little bit getting to his head,” Craig Young said. “But he would always kind of self-correct pretty quickly.”
Young, an only child, credits his parents and his Christian faith for keeping him grounded. Craig Young is a marriage and family therapist who does a lot of school-based counseling with children on probation or in foster care. His wife, Julie, was a special education teacher at the elementary school level before recently retiring.
“We’ve always been a family that deflects any sort of undue attention upon ourselves,” Craig said. “It’s really more about serving and helping others. I think Bryce has kind of taken that on. And even as a youth, we didn’t really focus on (his) individual accomplishments.”
Bryce Young has made a strong first impression during OTAs and minicamp on his Panthers teammates. (Joe Person / The Athletic)Throughout the spring, Young would steer interviews away from himself and toward the team and was receptive to advice from coaches, teammates and former players when Steve Smith and others would visit practice.
“That’s something they’ve always instilled in me,” Young said of his parents, who plan to live in Charlotte, N.C., during the season. “And honestly the longer I’ve been living and observing stuff, we’re not entitled to anything. What I’ve done in the past doesn’t entitle me to anything in the future. What I did today doesn’t even entitle me to anything tomorrow or when training camp starts.”
That humility has helped endear Young to his teammates, including established stars like Burns.
“Overall, he just fits the culture we’re trying to have in Carolina,” said Burns, a first-round pick in 2019. “Coming in my rookie year, I was looking up to guys like Luke (Kuechly), Shaq (Thompson), Christian (McCaffrey), Mario Addison, people like that. K.K. (Short). And that’s kind of the mold that we’ve got. There’s no egos. It’s all about getting better. It’s all about working. And he fits that mold to a T.”
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As Wooten, the former Auburn linebacker, has gotten to know Young better, he said it’s apparent the 2021 Heisman winner is “very good at what he does but doesn’t have to talk about it.”
And what Young does is create throwing lanes in the pocket and make off-platform throws, which Wooten appreciates more having practiced against him for more than a month.
“He’s sneaky athletic. You don’t really look at him and think, oh, he can run or he can run away from me. But he gets back there in that pocket and gets to moving around, it’s like, I don’t know how he made that throw off of one foot,” Wooten said.
“Or he’s just making unorthodox movements and throws. That’s something I didn’t really realize about him until he got here. Just the way he can move off the spot and make off (platform) throws is just special.”
Just don’t expect Young to say much about what makes him special or to spend much time reliving memorable plays like his last-minute heroics at Auburn — and the smile that punctuated it.
“You always spend a bunch of time looking back and it’s like, oh, this is fun, this is cool. But I try to in the moment really grasp on to it because you only get to live it once,” he said.
“Whatever moments may happen in the future, I haven’t really put any thought into it. Just try to get ready for the next day at camp and now focus on getting ready for training camp. Whatever moments happen, they happen. But it’s not really something I constantly think of.”
(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Kevin C. Cox, Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)
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