OLB Curley Young Jr. Breaks Down his Commitment

Cal's been steadily bolstering their linebacker ranks, with Hendrickson (Pflugerville, TX) OLB Curley Young committing to the Bears on his visit, and the Texas linebacker had three main reasons for his commitment.

"It’s the number one public school in America," Young noted, "for the majors that I’m doing, they’re highly ranked in engineering, the experience of the coaching staff is great, all the coaches have experience. Coach Wilcox used to be a defensive coordinator and coach DeRuyter, he’s been a head coach as well. They showed a lot of love whenever I came, and I liked that when you go there, you’re pretty much set for life, you can get internships with alumni, there’s alums everywhere from Cal Berkeley, plus it’s beautiful there."

Young caught the eye of Tim DeRuyter at a Texas State camp, where he showed an ability to play linebacker, dropping into coverage and utilizing his speed (around a 4.59 in the 40)

"When I was at Texas State, Cal was watching, and I had a really good showing," Young said, "Coach DeRuyter, when he saw me, he saw me not only as a linebacker, but as a pass rusher. My film shows me playing D-end, but at the camp I showed I can cover down the field as a linebacker. It showed I’m versatile and I can do more than just one thing on the football field. That’s when he decided he’d keep in touch with me, and then eventually he offered me."

Young has been preparing for his eventual position switch to Cal's outside linebacker spot, as his coach at Hendrickson has been having him move between outside linebacker and a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end. Alongside that, DeRuyter may have plans for young at more than one linebacker spot.

"(He likes) my ability to play different positions," Young said, "plus he sees me as an inside linebacker too, because I’m good at taking on blocks. He sees me as a multi-use player, not just one position."

Young got the chance to check out where he'll be attending school in the future as well, and the fact that coaches had details laid out for him stood out.

"I knew it was going to be good," Young said, "but I didn’t know it was going to be as beautiful as it was. When you get out there, it’s better than what you hear. It was everything I expected it to be and more. What stuck out was how the coaches had a plan for me, they have everything planned out. The support system that they have for the athletes is great."

Young's looking to come back for an official visit in December, and after his senior year at Hendrickson (playing in the highest classification of Texas state football), he's looking forward to being coached by DeRuyter.

"To me, that’s great," Young said, "It doesn’t get any better because he’s my position coach and my defensive coordinator. He’s going to be hard on us and that’s what I need out of a coach, to be the best that I can be."