Falcons defensive line coach Bryant Young, after sitting out of football to attend to his son's battle with cancer, was named to the staff in February.
He replaced Bryan Cox, who’d been the defensive line coach for the past three seasons.
Young, a prospective Pro Football Hall of Famer who played defensive tackle and end, was a player with the 49ers when Falcons coach Dan Quinn was an assistant coach on Steve Mariucci’s staff. Young, who played at Notre Dame, also coached with Quinn at Florida.
He chatted with Matt Winkeljohn for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently. Here’s what he had to say on a variety of defensive line issues:
ON TEAMS SLIDING TO VIC BEASLEY: "You always have protections where they can either (identify) the (middle linebacker) or slide to a certain guy," Young said. "I think when you have guys that are able to put pressure on different areas of the line, you can't slide the protection all of the time to one guy. We are hoping to have some balance there and we understand that may be happening sometimes when they are sliding to a guy."
ON DONTARI POE: "He'll be in there on first, second and third down. Run plays and pass- rush as well."
ON POE'S WEIGHT: "We want to be as efficient as possible. The way we play the game, you want to be in the best shape that you possibly can. Weight-wise, we want to make sure, as we look at each guy that they are where they need to be. He's a guy that has an opportunity to do that."
ON THE PASS RUSH: "Every year is a chance to grow and get better," Young said. "If you take last year and see where we can improve, having additional guys in that group, I think there is always room for improvement. We are working to do that. Each year…You have to continue to grow as a group."
ON HAND TO HAND COMBAT: "For us, you just have to be violent with our hands. How you play and the physical style with which you play, doing it every time. It has to be your style of play. We're asking guys to be violent with their hands. Be physical at the point of contact. For us, that style is what we want to be as a group. These guys have a really good understanding of what it takes. To push each other to bring out the best in each guy on both sides of the ball, guys understand that. From what I've seen so far, I really like how these guys work."
ON HIS REUNION WITH QUINN: "It was important in knowing each other and understanding what each person is about, that helped in a big way. The messaging from Dan and where it comes from, I understand it. To relay that and be a part of that, I think started back from our first time together."
ON QUINN THE ASSISTANT COACH: "He was a getting-out-the-stack guy. Very energetic. Passionate. He just loved it. He just loved being out there on the grass and as well as in the class teaching it. He brought a lot of energy to the group."
