By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
In 37 career starts and 43 games, fifth-year senior Taylor Young had never played the middle linebacker spot before Saturday’s game at Kansas, but Baylor head coach Matt Rhule called him a “natural.”
An anchor for the defense as a four-year starter, the 5-foot-9, 225-pound Young posted his 11th double-digit tackle game with 10 stops, one quarterback sack and three tackles for losses in the Bears’ 38-9 road win over the Jayhawks.
“I thought he was award-worthy with the way that he played,” Rhule said. “I thought it deserved a lot of attention. It was just a spectacular game for him.”
With sophomore Clay Johnston out for the rest of the season, Young figures to start back in the middle for the last three games against Texas Tech, Iowa State and TCU.
“It was a last-second change. They told me at the beginning of the week that I was going to have to move to the Mike (middle linebacker),” said Young, who has predominantly started at the weakside or Will spot. “I knew it already, so I just had to study it a little more. I felt like it was a pretty good deal for me just to show how versatile I am.”
Rhule said Young has “become one of my favorite players I’ve ever been around.”
“The football he’s played the last three games has been awesome,” Rhule said. “He’s just played so well. When you play well, it doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet. Sometimes, it’s just kind of the way you run around. But, I think what Taylor Young is doing . . . he runs down on every kickoff.”
One of the few holdovers from Baylor’s Big 12 championship team in 2014, Young said “it was a big deal for us to come out here and get a ‘W,’ it doesn’t matter who it is. It’s about the team and how hard we played.”
Young was the ringleader of a defense that forced two turnovers and held the Jayhawks to just 289 yards total, including 45 yards after the opening drive of the third quarter.
“We played fast and like we were trying to prove something,” he said. “We shut them out in the fourth quarter, and that was a big goal for us as a team.”
With the numbers he recorded in Saturday’s game, Young is now second in career sacks (15.5), tied for fourth in tackles for loss (38.0) and fifth in solo tackles (208). He’s now two sacks shy of Shawn Oakman’s school record for career sacks (17.5) and seven total tackles shy of cracking the career top 10 in that category.
“A smart man once said, ‘If you’re not first, then you’re last,’’’ said Young, quoting Ricky Bobby from the movie, “Talladega Nights.” “I don’t want to be No. 2. I didn’t know how close I was (to the record).”
In addition to Young, Rhule said “one of the other bright spots for us was (sophomore linebacker) Jordan Williams.”
“He didn’t start, but he came in once (Eric) Ogor got hurt, and he played definitely the best I’ve seen him play,” Rhule said. “He flew around, hit people, knocked the ball out, got us lined up. To see Taylor and Jordan go out there – they played with tremendous energy, they played in sync – that was really vital for us in the game.”
Young said one of the big motivators for the road victory was the chance to ditch the coat and tie for warm-up suits for the trip back to Waco.
“There’s a whole bunch of guys on our team who are over 300 pounds,” he said. “Having to button that top button around that 21-inch neck, that’s a big deal. Inside the locker room, we were chanting, ‘No suits! No suits!’’’
Young and the Bears (1-8, 1-5) will play Texas Tech (4-5, 1-5) at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
