Ohio State's Chase Young May Be Better Than Bosa Brothers
No Ohio State opponent has had an answer for Chase Young's pass rush through five games, unless the answer has been, "Let me get out of your way."
That doesn't mean there won't be a team lingering out there in the College Football Playoff with a better plan, but it's pretty certain that plan won't be a converted guard starting opposite Young because of injuries to three other guys on the roster.
That's Michigan State's plan.
Spartans' injury-riddled offensive line vulnerable
The No. 25 Spartans play at fourth-ranked OSU on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ABC-TV) and will probably align former guard Tyler Higby opposite Young after fith-year senior and returning starter Cole Chewins, juniors A.J. Arcuri and Kevin Jarvis suffered injuries.
Young, with eight sacks already, would seem to be primed for more against MSU, which lists three true freshmen linemen as backups on its depth chart for this week.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who seemingly had his sense of humor surgically removed years ago, was either trying to be funny or accidentally spoke a humorous truth the other day when he said of Young:
"I would say I really haven't thought of him in the human context."
The only thing Chase Young lacks is a nickname...or not
With his dreadlocks falling out of the back of his helmet and his dominant play so far this year, Young does bear a striking resemblance to the alien destructive force in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Predator.
As for the way he plays and where he's headed after this season, Young has a lot in common with Joey and Nick Bosa, who headlined the OSU defense from 2014-2018 on their way to going No. 3 and No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft, respectively.
Former Ohio State All-American Chris Spielman, a Fox-TV NFL analyst, worked the Giants-Redskins game Sunday.
"I was in New York, and I was talking to some pro personnel guys up there," Spielman said on the Spielman & Hooley podcast. "They are enamored with Chase Young. Enamored. And I said, ‘Is he better than (Nick) Bosa?” And they, they didn’t even hesitate. They did not even hesitate. Yes."
Dantonio is similarly impressed with Young.
"He's a very good player, big strong defensive end," Dantonio said. "...He's firm. He's very well coached. He's got a very quick first step out of the box.
"I don't really think of him in terms of, 'Oh, he's just like so and so.' I just look at him like a guy who's extremely productive and making big plays out there...We have to be able to control him to some degree because he can wreck a football game."
"They've had guys down there like him in the past. Everybody's had a guy like that in the past at some point in time. But I can't put a comparison on it. I just think he's a very, very good football player."
