6’3″ 240 pounds; Hometown: Hemingway, S.C.
If any linebacker continuously stood out for Tennessee football in spring practice, the newcomer from junior college did. A three-star out of Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Ga., which is in Baldwin County, Byron Young consistently earned mentions throughout the practices. He has a tweener size but played more on the outside than the inside, and it worked perfectly.
Initially a graduate of Carvers Bay High School in South Carolina’s Georgetown County, Young and Bryson Eason have competition to play on the edge despite the transfers of Kivon Bennett and Deandre Johnson. Still, those transfers were going to allow them to get a look even with Tyler Baron, Roman Harrison and Morven Joseph on the roster.
Outside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler touted Young’s improvement specifically when talking about players who developed and really only named him as a guy who could play a hybrid. He has been working on the line with Rodney Garner as well, who also touted his playmaking ability. That combined with experience gives him a huge advantage despite no spring game production.
Cade Mays was quoted in an article by Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel back in April naming Young as the most challenging player for him to block, and Patrick Brown of GoVols247 had an article about him turning heads early in the spring. Simply put, Young was probably the biggest standout of all the linebackers, and that makes him a huge winner from the spring.