Buckeyes Now

Chase Young Wins NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month and NFC Defensive Player of the Month

The former Buckeye is the heavy favorite to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Brendan Gulick

Chase Young Wins NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month and NFC Defensive Player of the Month
Chase Young Wins NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month and NFC Defensive Player of the Month /

This time last year, Ohio State fans were disappointed in knowing that Chase Young didn't go out on top with a national championship. Young is a generational talent and if not for Joe Burrow's record-setting season, Young had an extremely good chance of winning the Heisman Trophy.

So his success since being picked No. 2 overall by Washington last April comes as no surprise either. Young is likely on his way to being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and he recently led the Washington Football Team to the playoffs.

On Thursday afternoon, Young was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month and NFC Defensive Player of the Month

Over the last five games of the year, while in a very tight divisional race and the locker room in turmoil with Dwayne Haskins departure, Young stepped up as the leader of the franchise. He racked up 17 tackles, three tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three passes defended and a defensive touchdown.

That's one wild stat line. Here's what Washington posted on it's team site in recognition of Young's incredible stretch of play:

Young became the first player in franchise history to record two games in a single season with a forced fumble, fumble recovery and a sack when he did so in Weeks 14 and 16. In the Week 14 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, Young recorded an eight-yard sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, one tackle for loss and two passes defensed.

He became the first player in Washington franchise history to record a fumble return touchdown, a forced fumble and a sack in a single game and became the first rookie in NFL history and third player in overall to record a fumble return touchdown, forced fumble, fumble recovery, sack and two-plus passes defensed in a single game.

Should Young win the Defensive Rookie of the Year, he would become the fourth former Buckeye in the last five years to win the award.

That's a pretty impressive recruiting pitch that I'm sure the current Ohio State coaching staff leans on when trying to lure the best players in the country to play for the Scarlet and Gray.

Meanwhile, Young is pretty excited to play against Tom Brady and the Bucs on Saturday in the playoffs - and he doubled down on Thursday on how excited he is to play that game.

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Brendan Gulick
BRENDAN GULICK

Brendan Gulick is the publisher for BuckeyesNow, Cleveland Baseball Insider and Cavs Insider on the FanNation Network. He is also an accomplished host and play-by-play voice on TV and radio, including on Big Ten Network and NCAA.com where he's called 45 NCAA national championships. Gulick is an update anchor and fill-in host at 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio.

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