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SOW|Podcast Darrel Young Talks Camp, RG3, Mike Sellars, Morris, and Hightower. (Audio and Transcript Included)

rd421

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rd421

rd421

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Last fall I had the opportunity to spend some time hanging out with Redskins Fullback Darrel Young while recording an episode of BMitchLive with Brian Mitchell.

Young who had a pretty solid 1st season as the Redskins starting FB is not only a tremendous athlete but a great dude as well.

We always love getting to catch up with Darrel and Tuesday night he joined Kiel and myself on the SOW Podcast.

You can listen to the show and interview here.

For those who prefer to read instead of listen to our awesome show I though we would share the transcript from his segment.

Ray Smith: D, thanks for joining us on the show tonight.

Darrel Young: Thanks for having me.

RS: What’s it like now? You’re in your 2nd season as a starter; this is your 3rd season with the team. Talk a little bit about coming in to camp this year, especially considering you guys didn’t have all the OTAs and stuff last year. How are you feeling, man?

DY: To be honest, for myself it’s a dream come true just to be in this position. Washington has a lot of history, and a lot of history with great backs who came through, potential hall of famers. But it’s just a blessing to be where I am. Because as a team, we’re going to be a lot better in terms of not making the little mistakes and stuff. Last year, like you said, we didn’t have OTAs in the offseason, and [we had] the lockout and stuff, so we were just trying to find an identity. And we found an identity early, but we couldn’t hang on to it due to injuries and other situations off the field last year, but I’m excited about what’s to come this year.

RS: One of things that’s really so exciting for us that this is a football team who has developed a very young core group of guys, on both sides of the ball. You had an opportunity to learn the fullback position from Mike Sellers who is very well respected around here. Talk a little bit about what it was like to learn from Mike, and some of the things that he went out of his way to teach you as you were coming up and getting ready to take over full time.

DY: It says a lot about Mike as a person and his character, just to develop a young guy like myself, because basically I was going to take his position, but he was kind of grooming me. You know, Mike a great guy. He a great family guy, and like I said, what he did is priceless to me, for the game of football. He’s like an older brother. I look to him still for references and just to basically see what’s going on, on the field. So he basically told me everything that would happen before it would happen. Mike is something special that…not even a coach could tell me, in terms from a football standpoint. He’s a great guy, and just to see him get released, from a personal standpoint, it kind of bothered me, but at the end of the day it’s a business, and I have to move on from it. I hope he gets a shot somewhere else. I know he’s 36, but he plays like he’s 26.

Kiel Maddox: Alfred Morris comes in, he’s kind of like you, he played a little bit of linebacker, I guess in high school and what not, and then he converted in to a running back. Do you share a lot of similarities? Are you kind of helping him work his way in to being a running back now? He was telling us that he loves to make contact. Instead of people trying to tackle him, he makes sure he goes out there and tries to lay them out. I remember that Giants game in New York, you ran through their line pretty easily on that goal line. Is that something that you look forward to as well, running over people?

DY: Oh yeah, that’s the best part of the game! Having a linebacker mentality, that defensive [mentality] has definitely prepared me to play the fullback position. Fullback is a game of angles, and you have to have a little more finesse than at linebacker in terms of approaching guys, but just that mindset, running into a guy, just trying to take him–not trying to hurt him–but basically let him feel your pain.

Alfred Morris is a great young guy; he’s going to be a great back. He’s smart. He listens, which is key, [that’s] the biggest thing in this league. [Morris has] got good feet on him, just watching him in OTAs, seeing him step up in pass protection, with no pads on, he has something special. He’s got a gift. I don’t know what it is yet but he’s here for a reason. I know Shanahan does a great job of drafting backs late in the draft and finding free agent guys. All the backs you look at on our roster are under-rated, but everyone has made a mark somewhere in their career, whether it be in college or high school. We’re waiting for that breakout year for all of us.

RS: We had Alfred Morris on the show, right in the middle of you’re guys’ OTA, right around Memorial Day. And one of the things that really stood out to me was how, this is a guy who–even in his rookie year–we thanked him for coming on over Memorial Day weekend, and he said ‘Man, I’m glad to talk to you guys, because during the week, I don’t talk. During the week, we’re about business and we’re about football stuff”. We asked him when he came on the show, asked him point black, we said, ‘Are you coming in to be a running back or are you going to be in the mold of a fullback?’ Because coming out of the draft, there’s a lot of people who said he was going to be more suited for fullback. And he kind of said ‘You know, I think I’m going to be a running back, that’s what I’ve always done’. But then five says later or however long it was, we’re out at camp, and he’s taking a lot of work with you after practice, catching balls from the Jugs machine. You guys seemed like you were pretty close, and I believe we actually came up and talked to you guys then. Is he splitting carries so that he’s being groomed to do a little bit of everything, to try and find his place?

DY: You know what? The history of coach Shanahan will answer that question. You look at Peyton Hillis, you look at Spencer Larsen–was a linebacker, he still is, he’s with the Broncos, now he’s playing fullback*–but you looks at those guys, Shanahan has prepared guys for whatever situation may come. You go back to some of the games, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson were the only backs left in some of those games. Terrell Davis, they are the only backs that dressed. The fullback was Howard Griffith, and Howard Griffith would take snaps at running back, and people don’t know that. So that’s basically what Shanahan preaches to us during the week – that you have to know everything. If they need me to go play receiver then I have to know what I’m doing on this concept, so I think it’s just more the scheme. But [Morris] is playing both right now. That’s just Shanahan and the history of what he does.

*Spencer Larsen signed with the New England Patriots on March 22nd, 2012. He is officially listed as a FB on the Patriots website but is expected to play some LB as well.

RS: We talked to Niles Paul on the show last week and he told us a little bit about the switch he’s making from WR to TE. You just brought up a litany – a huge list of guys that Shanahan has done this [with], and put people in different positions to see the field. Let me ask you: personally, as a guy who came in undrafted, I believe you got picked up on a futures deal, your original deal, correct?

DY: Yes.

RS: So you came in as a futures guy, a guy who a lot of people probably didn’t know a lot about you, you came from Villanova, you’re a LB that comes in, and to your shock you find out you’re being switched to fullback. What does it mean to you to have a coach that can see something inside of you personally, and then find a way to put you in a position, to not to just play some or to just make the team as an undrafted guy? I mean, you’re now the starting fullback of the Washington Redskins. What does it mean to you to have a coach like Shanahan to see something in you and to have your back to put you in position to give you that type of an opportunity?

DY: It just goes to show that’s he’s a fair coach and he wants guys that are hungry. Like I said, you go back to the history of Shanahan again, look at all the free agent guys who started for him, guys who are off the streets, who were cut or never drafted. I think it was very humbling to play linebacker and then get released, and now step in to the role of starting fullback. It’s a dream come true, but to sum up everything with Shanahan in one word, he’s just ‘fair’. He gives everyone an opportunity to catch on. No one can say that they came in to the Washington Redskins organization with Mike Shanahan and say that they didn’t have a fair chance. That goes for defensive backs, and even look at Niles Paul, with Chris Cooley and Fred Davis being there, but Niles Paul is taking a lot of snaps with Logan Paulsen, so everyone, it’s an equal opportunity organization.

RS: So you guys have had, obviously, a super interesting offseason to say the least. You’ve got changes all over the field, and especially to the running back position, you guys being back a guy like Tim Hightower, who we have brought this up for weeks and weeks and weeks, how much it means to the fans and how much it means for an organization to get to the point where, you know, Tim turned down an opportunity with the New England Patriots, who were just in the Super Bowl, and have been to the Super Bowl in what seems like every year. To come back and be a part of what this team is doing, what does it mean to this offense to have a guy like Tim returning to the team this season?

DY: Tim’s a great guy. He’s our leader right now in the backfield. He [inaudible] back there. Tim comes with a great work ethic, he played in the Super Bowl at young age, and he knows what it takes. He’s a I-AA player who got drafted in the 5th round, but what Tim brings to this team, he’s our power back, he’s our starting back if you’re going back to last year, because I don’t know who’s going to start right now. Like I said, he’s a great guy and he’s the leader in the room, because he’s the oldest. We ride on Tim because he’s an inspirational person. Every team had that vocal leader, and Tim is that [player] for the Redskins, even though he’s only been there for one year. His voice stands out. He speaks well. His preparation for the games is ridiculous every week. People talk about how Peyton Manning and Ray Lewis and other guys watch film. Tim Hightower is up in that category because he knows everything that’s going to happen. If you look he’s one of the greatest, one of the best pass blocking backs in the game right now, so what he brings to the table, you can’t put it on paper.

RS: You talked a little bit about having a couple of different backs that have been in and out. For you as a fullback you’re lead blocking on these guys sometimes, is it difficult to have to know the styles of all three guys, because there’s a little bit of difference in style. I think that Helu is a little faster, a little but more burst, and as you said Hightower is a really sold pass blocker, and he can still pick up his yards when he needs to. But you know when there’s a different guy behind you does it make you approach things a little bit differently, or is it pretty much the same for all of them?

Continue reading the transcript HERE.

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FuriousD

FuriousD

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What a great story. I can't say enough about the talent & character that Shanahan is building into this team. It fills the void for me while we wait for the wins to come. And let's talk about Shanahan as a talent evaluator! Is he entering a second age of enlightenment? Yeah, it's still too early to tell but call me crazy, I think this draft is gonna pan out just like last years, the new FA's are gonna pay big dividends and Shanahan unearths another gem in Niles Paul. And then what? But I digress,...

Awesome story, Darryl Young and good on ya! And I love that you have a chip on your sholder about those obnoxious Giants! More epic TD's againts the G Men, please!!!

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