Cal Football: Monroe Young Brings His Dad's All-Pro Defensive Mindset to Receiver

His father was an All-Pro linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks, so it’s hardly a surprise that Monroe Young leaned toward playing defense when he took up football.

“I’ve always wanted to be a defensive guy,” said Young, a redshirt junior at Cal. “I played DB in high school all four years, and I didn’t play receiver until my senior year.”

It’s been all wide receiver his four years at Berkeley, the only school to recruit Young as an offensive player. But Young, who is emerging as a candidate to get significant playing time this season, approaches his position with the aggressive mindset playing defense taught him.

“Big-time,” he confirmed. “A lot of those things can be transferred, mental-wise. Little stuff like run blocking — it’s 100 percent mental. And when you hone in on little things like that, it leads to bigger things.”

Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, below, said in the in Young’s case it’s leading to a place on the field when the Bears open their season a week from Saturday at home against Nevada.

“He’s a good route-runner. He can drop his weight, change directions, stop on a dime. And once again, he knows what to do so we can count on him to be in the right place at the right time,” Musgrave said this week. “We would expect him to play a major role.”

Young has had to wait his turn at Cal. He has played in nine games over his first three seasons, catching two passes for 15 years, both of them last year.

It was something of a long shot that Young is even playing at Cal or in the Pac-12. He was an excellent player and student at Onate High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, but the town — located in the southeast corner of the state and just 50 miles from the Mexican border — is off the beaten track for recruiters from big colleges.

Fredd Young understands. The father of three sons who have played college football, Fredd grew up in Dallas, but played his college ball at New Mexico State in Las Cruces and returned to the town to raise his family after his NFL career.

“We’re from Las Cruces. It’s hard for people to see us in New Mexico,” Fredd Young said. “They don’t believe we have the talent.”

Monroe Young believes he was the first football player from Las Cruces in a decade to land a scholarship to a Power 5 school.

“Being a kid from Las Cruces, you don’t really get opportunities like that. A lot of people don’t make it out of there,” he said. “I don’t take this for granted at all. The journey’s still not done. I still have a lot more to prove.”

Young already has earned his Cal degree in legal studies, but his football career is just now beginning to blossom.

He spent the offseason studying the offensive playbook and making sure he understood the nuances of each receiver position in order to maximize his versatility. Musgrave said Young also embraced the offseason cross-training program he was given.

As much as anything, his climb to a spot where he could increase his playing time is the result of what Musgrave called one crucial ability.

“The No. 1 ability that all coaches are looking for in football is availability. And to be durable and to be there each and every day to be counted upon, and that’s Monroe,” Musgrave said.

Young said he has stayed healthier through this training camp than any of his three previous ones, and that’s made a huge difference.

“I’m getting a lot more reps,” he said. “I know what I’m capable of when I am healthy. I think this is the first full camp that I’ve made it through without any significant injuries.”

At the same time, others in the Cal receiving corps — including senior Kekoa Crawford and sophomore Tommy Christakos and J. Michael Sturdivant — have missed time with various ailments.

Young’s older brothers preceded him to college football. Freddy Young Jr. played defensive back at New Mexico and had a brief time with the Raiders. Matthew Young was a linebacker for New Mexico State before transferring this season to Texas Tech.

Fredd Young was a remarkable player at New Mexico State. At 6-foot-2 and perhaps 205 pounds, he played defensive end as a junior then outside linebacker his senior season. At the same time, he averaged 12.2 yards per punt return as a junior, then led the NCAA at 31.2 yards — including a touchdown — on kickoff returns as a senior in 1983.

Monroe confirms there are no defensive linemen on the Cal roster who are competing for reps at punt return.

Monroe Young has only watched his Dad play in the NFL through old VRC highlight tapes. “But we’ll be out in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at a grocery store and people will always come up to us and talk about it,” he said. “It’s always fun to hear.”

Fredd Young was up to 235 pounds and playing middle linebacker for the Seahawks in 1987 when he was named a first-team All-Pro and finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.

He would much rather talk about his sons.

“It’s all about them now, it’s not about me,” said Fredd, 59, who is happy in retirement despite having undergone four hip replacement surgeries.

“Monroe’s a good kid,” said his Dad, declining to take much credit for that. “Monroe has his own way - he’s a lot faster than I was. He just makes sure to do all it takes to win. That’s the only way to be happy.”

Monroe said his Dad got all three boys pointed in the right direction.

“He wanted me to play football, obviously, because he was a football player,” Young said. “But he was also my coach in basketball. He was my track coach. He was going everywhere with me, and I really appreciate him for that.

“He grew me into the man I am today.”

Cover photo of Monroe Young by Meg Oliphant, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo