Byron Young on meeting Kalen DeBoer, getting a life changing call from Josh McDaniels, LSU and more!

joining the podcast is former Alabama and current Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Byron young Byron what's going on man not much man just having an off day having an off day after Camp getting ready to go to the next preseason pre-season game I heard that tell me uh how was the Vegas heat how does it compare to the heat down south it's different man it's it's really different um it's not humid here at all you know it might be 20 15% humidity here but the sun is just so bright at all times I mean you will walk outside at 7:30 8 o' and it'll still be a little bit brighter and it'll still be like 100 degrees so I mean I I honestly prefer being here more so than down there because of humidity just it makes you feel so sticky and you just keep sweating but up here your sweat dries kind of fast so you don't really realize how much you're sweating um so it's really easy to get dehydrated up here but I would much rather this kind of heat than the humidity down there oh yeah that uh Alabama and Mississippi humidity that that's hard to beat man speaking of Mississippi um you're from Laurel Mississippi and went to West Jones High School uh I know you had some relatives I think an older brother that played football there um but where did your love for football where did that start so I have three older brothers man they all play football at West Jones um my dad actually played there too long long time ago but it really just it came from from watching all them play football it came from from watching my oldest brother and then my my second oldest brother and then the one closest to me watching all of them and then seeing them all going and play in college that's really where it came from where did they uh where did they play in college at uh my brother Kendrick the oldest one played at Pearl River and then he played at Southern Illinois uh the next one rrick he played at Jones college and then my one closest to me Brandon he played at Jones college and then um Arkansas State monel okay well speaking of uh staying on the college topic and uh Mississippi you're a Mississippi guy obviously as we just mentioned growing up did you want to play for state or Old Miss no growing up man I really wanted to go to LSU um I grew up at LSU fan really because my brother who was Clos to me Brandon he liked I mean he loved Alabama and so I just kind of wanted to to pick a rival school from Alabama just to kind of spite him a little bit so I chose LSU and then I grew up liking LSU from from really as far back as I can remember up until really when I really when I committed to Alabama which was in like the summer of 2018 maybe right before my senior year um so I never really cared for the Mississippi States or the Old Miss Southern misss um I visited all of those schools and they were nice but they just weren't the place for me and I think going to Alabama turned out just fine how excited was your brother for you when you signed with Alabama he was excited man but I don't know if anybody was more excited than my dad my dad loves Alabama so he still of this day you would think I'm still playing there you would think I'm about to go suit up and go play the first game for him but man he Lov it he was the most excited one what ended up selling you on Alabama it was it was really I just wanted to win I wanted to win I wanted to be close to home and I wanted to chance to go to the NFL um I did all those things I mean home was just natural thing but I was able to go over there I was able to win I was able to get develop and become a great football player and I was able to eventually make it to the NFL so those are really the the selling points that got me to go to Alabama um I thought about I did actually think about Old Miss that was really because of Coach Fredy roach he was a really big reason um but he ended up being to Alabama in the future so it was it was a close close call kind of towards the end with Alabama and then Old Miss coming along at the end just with him recruiting me so heavily speaking of Coach Freddy roach I remember at Alabama before every practice you guys would be down there he'd be yelling at y'all you'd be striking the sleds and all that stuff kind of just getting into the frame of mind and setting the tone for the defense how much do you think that helped you in the rest of the D line doing that every day um set the tone and just help with yall's confidence of stopping the run I think it helped a lot man because there in in Alabama just like here in Vegas the first thing is stopping the Run um and I mean going out there before practice and getting extra work in making sure we're warmed up and making sure we're able to start practice fast is a really big thing um it's really being Alabama and it's really big here so I think it's a really important thing it's time where you can kind of slow down you aren't on the clock per se of you have five minutes and individual you can go out there and you can do things that are specifically tailored towards you and exactly what you might need and so I think that's a a really good thing to do because here we go out to practice honestly some days 40 minutes early uh and we'll be out there hitting the sled doing footwork drills all kinds of things that we might not have time to do during practice and it's just about putting extra work in to get to where we all want to go I saw an interview with you the other day it was after one of the practices and someone had asked you about uh playing time and all that kind of stuff and you mentioned you gave a outstanding very impressive answer you mentioned earning time on the field did that take you back to being at Alabama where you had to earn every opportunity and every rep did it did um and I think that's how should be I think that's exactly how it should be I don't deserve anything I have to show up every single day and work every single day and give them a reason to put me in the game how much do you think being at Alabama behind Christian bmore and guys like rayin Davis helped you with that I I think it helped a lot man because last year was kind of like a mirror image of my freshman year I came in and I was recruited and I wanted to play right away just like last year um and there were other guys in front of me when I got to Alabama just like there were other guys in front of me when I got here they were older guys just like it was here so it was a trying season you know there were ups and downs last year you know it was a lot of times where I questioned a lot of things but a lot of guys in the room really came together and helped me and and explained to me just the process and what it actually meant to become a professional athlete because you come from college and you're used to going to meetings and doing things and stuff like that and just eating in the um cafeteria but when you get to the NFL you have a lot more free time which is actually a thing that a lot of people told me but you have a lot more free time and a lot of things that are mandatory in college you have to go out of your way to do in um in the NFL and you have to find those resources and so for me coming all the way from Alabama not really knowing anybody out here it was a challenge to try to find all the resources out here that I had in college um that weren't particularly just provided immediately right in the um in the facility and things like that so it was I think it helped a lot I think it helped a lot and it I think it's going to help me a lot this year because I mean I went from my freshman year to barely playing and then my sophomore year had a much bigger role and that's really what it's looking like this year I think when we went through camp and we went through um OTAs I gave them a reason to believe in me and I gave him a reason to give me an opportunity to be on the field and we have two more preseason games coming up and I have opportunity to continue to stack days and give them more of a reason to play me whenever we get to the regular season well kind of staying on the Alabama topic um what do you think about Coach dbor what is your uh expectations for this new era of Alabama football I think it's gonna be great man I think it's G to be great I've met coach dbor I've talked to him um he was very very welcoming it was not of funny when I first met him though I was back it was during our offseason and they were doing the fourth quarter program and whenever I'm back in town I normally stay in tou coloa um cuz my girlfriend is still in school there and so we were I was in the weight room and I forgot my clothes that day and I was wearing the the gray suits that they used to give all the players the gray pants with the football and the size of the shirt on it and the the great shorts to match it and everything and so I I was working out and then they were doing fourth quarter so I walked outside uh while they were doing fourth quarter and Coach dor like he was just he kept walking by me he kept looking at me like he was just looking at me like why why is this guy sitting over here like not in the drills or not doing anything and then he eventually came up to me he was like um he was like Hey like I didn't know you were like you used to play here like I thought that I had another player that I hadn't met yet and I was wondering why he was just sitting over on the sideline not doing anything man but it was a he's a he's a really good guy man really down to earth really just a really calm demeanor calm and confident demeanor all the guys that I talk to there seem to love him so I think they're going to have a lot of success that's funny man that's a that's a pretty interesting story I've always I've been kind of curious to know like what's the connection with him and all the former alumni and all that kind of stuff but sounds like it's going pretty good yeah it's good man it's good I went back they they let me put my fingerprint back in so I can go all around the building um let me go upstairs and eat if I wanted to have access to the training room and the trainers everything so it's just like it was with Coach Sabin um as far as allig the Alum alumni to come back in that's good that's good that's how it should be um speaking of Alabama I got another Alabama question for you tell me the story about um we were playing Tennessee and I think I might be butchering the story but you were talking to one of the Tennessee players and then he just threw up what was the story there I I don't I remember him throwing up I've seen video probably hundreds of times I've had people tag me in and ask me about it I wasn't talking to him I don't remember at what point in the game it was I think it was late third quarter maybe early fourth everybody was out there tired and um I was actually talking to Dallas Turner I actually played against him like two or three days ago I was talking to him he was right beside me and then the offensive L was just looking at me and I'm just looking at him and then he threw up and I was just I just turned to Dallas and I was like did you just see him throw up and he was like yeah but it wasn't anything crazy man it was just when you play football as much as I have and for as long as I have you see people throw up all the time like during Camp you'll see guys on the sideline pick their helmet up off the head throw up and then go run in and go play or you'll be on the field and somebody will be in their stance and they'll just throw up through their face mask and then they'll go play that play and then have to clean it afterward so it wasn't anything that was too surprising it was just in that moment wasn't something I was expecting well you left Alabama national champion and an SCC Champion um what was the most memorable thing looking back on your college career what was the most memorable moment or game uh for me the most memorable game was when we played Auburn um my junior year I believe it was when we went in like three or four overtimes that was one of the games that was just I mean I I'll never forget the feeling I had in that game I'll never forget the feeling I when the game ended I was just so relieved that we won man and I was just it was like a lot of feelings just rushed over me because there was a lot um there was a lot on the line in that game you know if we lose we we're still in the ACC Championship where we probably don't make the national championship like we did that year we ended up losing uh to Georgia but I mean still made great memories all throughout that but another one was when we won the National Championship during the co year um down in Miami that was a a really great memory too well after Alabama you had a really good sh at the Senior Bowl and you got to work with uh some of the Raiders coaching staff did you leave the Senior Bowl thinking that you know maybe I might be a Raider I had no clue I had no clue at all um he was the coach who was there was Matt Edwards he's um he's not with us anymore he's with the Buffalo Bills now but he was there all throughout the week and he was coaching us and I honestly had no clue like I I had a um I had a not a 30 visit but at the comeb by I had an interview with them which was e the Senior Bowl and then I think I might had a zoom with him uh and then that was really it so I mean I had no clue I was going to Vegas I just remember sitting in my brother's house and getting a call and sending the Vegas number pop up I had never seen a Vegas number pop up a 702 I just saw the little thing where it told you uh where the area code was and man that was it that was it they called me it was um I believe at the time it was either Josh McDaniels that called me or Dave Ziggler neither of them are here any longer um but it was one of them and I'm still do this day really thankful to them and they changed my life even though they aren't here any longer I'm really appreciative to both of them and man it was a it was a crazy moment on draft night you didn't have one team in mind that you were like man I think I might go here I I thought the Atlanta Falcons um they had talked to my agent they had told me they were interested in me and they had a a pick like two or three picks later um after the the Raiders and so uh I thought I might have ended up in Atlanta which would have been cool because it would have been close to home um but other than that man it was I I didn't have a clue in the world what was more of a transition going from high school to college or um College to the NFL because you mentioned you know you have to kind of find your own resources in the NFL what was what do you think I would say probably high school to college um they're both different they're both very very different you go from high school to where you're young you're around your family all the time you're around your friends you you're in an area that you're very comfortable with and then all of a sudden you're completely going to another place uh in that situ I had the opportunity to choose where I went and obviously I chose Alabama it was the first time I had ever been away from home for a very extended period of time even though I was only two and a half hours away which doesn't seem like anything now that I'm 28 hours away Up in Vegas doesn't seem like much of anything but I would say that was probably the bigger adjustment just because when you come in from high school you're a lot of guys are still 17 18 years old I was 18 at the time and you haven't really grown into yourself you know you're still growing you might get taller things like that and so man it was it was it was a really hard adjustment um it was really difficult at that time but coming to Vegas was was difficult too you know like I said um going 28 hours away into a place I've never been before I came to Vegas the furthest west I had ever been was Texas um and so it was completely different but the biggest thing I noticed from the NF or from college to the NFL is just how precise everything is and then just how good every single person you play against is going to be you know you can in college you can play against a guy on a Saturday night from Mississippi State who is a sixe senior who just happens to be starting that left guard because he's waited his turn and now he's getting an opportunity but after his last game he's going to go work at JP Morgan or something like that but in the NFL you're playing against all NFL players some guys have been doing this for two years some guys have been doing it for eight I have a guy on my team who's going into year 12 so I think that they're both different challenges challenges um but I would say that probably coming out of high school and then going to college was the most typical the transition from college to the NFL do you think that being at Alabama around so many other future NFL players kind of helped you make that you know transition and adapt I think it I think it helped some but I also think that for majority of people when you go from college to the NFL the jump is so big and the when you're in the NFL the amount like the margin of error is so thin it's so thin like you can be playing a certain technique and then at last moment you put your eyes in the wrong place and then the running back is is in your Gap like my defensive coordinator says he always says every running back in the NFL is one of 32 there's I mean there's only 32 people in the world who are starting NFL running backs and so they're all special um and so I mean it I think being in college at Alabama did help because of physicality and playing against guys at practice like JC lean who was a top 10 pick Evan Neil um jedric Willis Alex Leatherwood Lon Dickerson all of those guys who have been successful in the NFL and who hopefully will be in the um talking about JC I think that did help some though what was your welcome to the NFL moment my it wasn't it wasn't more of a moment it was like a series my first ever time in a regular season game the biggest thing I noticed was like we were preseason we had um joint practices with the 49ers and at the time I was going with like the twos and the threes um and I was doing really really well man so I'm like man and I feel like this isn't as hard as hard as I thought it was gonna be like people told me this is gonna be crazy like I'm like man I I might might make a pro bow this year like like I'm doing great out here and then we go we play the Broncos and the first time I get in the game the difference between the backup offensive linemen and the starters on the offensive line in my opinion was huge like I and I mean like I'm I'm out there and things are happening so much faster than I'm used to like we had I had a pass rep where I was trying to pass rush and the guy just grabbed me and I just I couldn't move and it was something that really hadn't happened before because in college I'm normally stronger than everybody so even if they get their hands on me I can normally get them off and get away this time it might have been quim and near is um he just had me just hands inside locked up and I'm just wiggling side to side trying to move and that first drive was a little bit rough and so I probably say that was my my welcome to the NFL well as you head into uh to wrap this up as you head into year two what's your uh expectations for this upcoming season and what's something that you personally um want to showcase uh for everybody to see um I mean my expectations this year is to to win I mean I think we've put in a lot of work you know myself and my teammates included to be successful this season so I expect us to win a lot uh for myself man I just I want to go out there and I want to make an impact I want to be a player who is an impact player in every single game who can change the game and tip the scale so I feel like I put the work in to be able to do that this year and that's that's really my goal well Barron I'll let you run man I really appreciate it I know you're a busy man uh this has been real fun good luck this season no no problem man thank you thank you having me on