Canton Calling: Former Notre Dame All-American Bryant Young elected to Pro Football Hall of Fame
No school has more Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees than Notre Dame. Add former Fighting Irish defensive tackle Bryant Young to the list.
Young will become the 14th player from Notre Dame in the Hall when he is inducted as part of the class of 2022 this summer. Young waited 10 years to earn the right to be named a Hall of Fame inductee, but he finally heard his name attached to the honor during the NFL Honors show Thursday night. He’s the first former Notre Dame player to be inducted since Edward DeBartolo Jr. in 2016.
A 1993 All-American and team captain at Notre Dame, Young was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers with the No. 7 overall pick in 1994. He was a key cog in the 49ers Super Bowl run that year, finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Young had 627 total tackles and 89.5 sacks in 208 career games. He played all 14 of his professional seasons in San Francisco. A four-time Pro Bowl selection, Young won the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1999 after breaking his leg the year prior. He was on pace for a career-high in single season sacks in 1998 before the injury. He came back to record 11.0 the following year, the second-best total of his career.
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Young won the Len Eshmont Award, given annually to the 49ers player who best exemplifies courageous and inspirational play, an unprecedented eight times. No 49ers player has ever won it more than twice in the rich history of that franchise.
Young took a couple of forays into coaching after his playing career concluded in 2007. He was a graduate assistant for Charlie Weis at Notre Dame in 2009. He coached the defensive line at San Jose State in 2010 and at Florida from 2011-12. After a bit of a break, he coached the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive line from 2017-19.
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During his break from coaching, Young’s son, Colby, died of pediatric cancer on Oct. 11, 2016. He was 15.
“Colby loved football so much that heʼs a part of what I do with my job,” Young told ESPN’s Vaughn McClure in 2018 while Young was still with the Falcons. “He would be the biggest cheerleader of what weʼre doing here.”
Young’s enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, Aug. 6 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, will surely be an emotional event for him and his wife, Kristin, and five other children,
Notre Dame Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Notre Dame has 14 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, tied with USC for the most by any college program. Here’s a list of all 14 with their Hall of Fame class year in parenthesis.
- Edward DeBartolo Jr. (2016)
- Jerome Bettis (2015)
- Tim Brown (2015)
- Dave Casper (2002)
- Nick Buoniconti (2001)
- Joe Montana (2000)
- Alan Page (1988)
- Paul Hornung (1986)
- George Connor (1975)
- Wayne Millner (1968)
- George Trafton (1964)
- Earl Lambeau (1963)
- John McNally (1963)
