Heupel: Byron Young Brings 'Things Vols Need' for Rest of 2021 Season

Byron Young's debut was one of the most anticipated of any of Tennessee's newcomers heading into 2021. The prized pass rusher passed every eye test in the preseason, performed well during camp, and looked poised to earn plenty of playing time heading into the season. But Young suffered a setback due to an NCAA technicality that caused him to be ineligible for Tennessee's first two games of the season. Now, that is behind him, and Young is generating plenty of buzz for the Vols heading into week three, and Josh Heupel had high praise for him earlier in the week. 

"Byron will be able to play this week," Heupel said on Monday morning. "There was a two-week rule of ineligibility by the NCAA. He's a guy that has grown a bunch in our program. He has added 25, 30 pounds to his frame from when I first arrived here in late January, early February, credit to our strength staff. Through training camp, through spring ball, has been really good as a pass rusher off the edge. I think he's going to add some things we need on that side of the football."

Those things the Vols "need" are a consistent pass-rushing presence, and by all accounts, Young should bring that moving forward as the talented edge player is more than ready to go and should have a tuneup with Tennessee Tech in week 3. 

"Not just excited for myself, I'm more excited for Byron," Vols sophomore end Tyler Baron said on Monday. "He works his tail off, and I'm excited for everybody else to see what we know (he can do). He is a force to be reckoned with off the edge. I think teams are going to have to gameplan for him."

Baron has been a key factor for Tennessee in the first two games, but he knows the need the Vols have for a consistent presence off the edge, and a rotation between the two should create more frequent disturbances in the passing game.

Sports Illustrated's Signing Day Analysis of Young: 

On film, Young plays angry. Not dirty or sloppy, but angry. There is an attitude and edge to the way he plays the game. He explodes into blockers and delivers heavy blows to running backs. Everything that Young does, he does with bad intentions. As skilled and physically blessed as Young is, the fact that he plays hateful looking to punish players on offense is what shows up the most on film. He doesn’t just beat blockers, he drives them back and puts them on their back. He doesn’t just tackle running backs, he arrives with a little something extra, he ends wrap-up tackles with a snap that slams ball carriers to the ground. Again, the tackles and hits are clean and disciplined with good technique, they are just given that little bit extra to punish ball carriers and make them think twice. He exhibits phenomenal bend and lateral quickness off the edge, and he will look to utilize that against long SEC offensive tackles as he appears to just be scratching the surface of his potential as an edge prospect.