Seahawks 90-Man Countdown: DT Cameron Young - Day One Starter at Nose?

Though he didn't contribute much as a pass rusher at Mississippi State, the Seattle Seahawks won't be asking Cameron Young to hunt down quarterbacks, instead banking on the massive rookie fortifying the middle of their porous run defense from a year ago.

Corbin K. Smith | Jul 1, 2023

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Seattle Seahawks

With the calendar flipping to June and offseason activities wrapping up league-wide, the Seattle Seahawks will open training camp at the VMAC in less than two months, officially ushering in the 2023 season.

To celebrate the new incoming season, we'll be detailing every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, exploring best and worst case scenarios and what to expect from each player entering the 2023 campaign.

Cameron Young, Defensive Tackle

Height/Weight: 6-3, 304 pounds

2022 Stats*: 37 tackles, one sack, three tackles for loss

*College stats at Mississippi State

A three-star recruit at Franklin County High School in Mississippi, Young chose to stay in state and signed with Mississippi State after enjoying a dominant senior prep season with 51 tackles and 11 sacks. After redshirting his true freshman season with the Bulldogs, he saw limited action as a reserve during the 2019 and 2020 seasons, producing 18 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss. Stepping into the starting lineup as junior, he set a career-high with 51 tackles, intercepted a pass, and blocked a kick, turning in a strong all-around year in 2021.

Capping off his collegiate career with another quality season, Young racked up 37 tackles, a sack, and three tackles for loss as the run stuffer in the middle for Mississippi State last season, earning an invite to play in the Senior Bowl all-star showcase. Impressing the Seahawks during a meeting in Mobile, the team tabbed him as the heir apparent to Al Woods at nose tackle by selecting him with the 123rd overall pick in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Best-Case Scenario: Proving John Schneider correct that young players can make an immediate impact at nose tackle better than most positions, Young jumps right into the starting lineup and never looks back, serving as an impenetrable wall in the middle of Seattle's much-improved run defense as a viable replacement for Woods and a recovering Bryan Mone.

Worst-Case Scenario: Not quite as big of a space eater as Woods or Mone, Young gets driven off the ball at times early in his rookie season and once Mone returns from his ACL injury, he resumes his role as the starter with the fourth-round pick seeing diminished playing time on early downs.

What to Expect in 2023: Asking a day three pick to immediately step in as a starter can be a lot to ask, even at a position such as nose tackle where players tend to be more pro ready with fewer responsibilities in the middle of the trenches. But the Seahawks have been confident in Young's ability to handle such a task since the moment they turned his card in as one of their two fourth-round selections and he didn't do anything this spring to squelch those high expectations.

Like any rookie, Young won't be able to truly be evaluated until the pads come on in August during training camp and at that point, Seattle will be able to see whether or not he is up to the task of plugging a massive hole in the middle vacated by the departure of Woods and Poona Ford. However, based on early returns and his work ethic, the coaching staff anticipates he will be able to hold his own in the trenches and he has as good of a shot as any incoming rookie to carve out a starting role on day one at an important position in the team's 3-4 defense.

Previous Seahawks 90-Man Profiles

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Published Jul 1, 2023

CORBIN K. SMITH

Graduating from Manchester College in 2012, Smith began his professional career as a high school Economics teacher in Indianapolis and launched his own NFL website covering the Seahawks as a hobby. After teaching and coaching high school football for five years, he transitioned to a full-time sports reporter in 2017, writing for USA Today's Seahawks Wire while continuing to produce the Legion of 12 podcast. He joined the Arena Group in August 2018 and also currently hosts the daily Locked On Seahawks podcast with Rob Rang and Nick Lee. Away from his coverage of the Seahawks and the NFL, Smith dabbles in standup comedy, is a heavy metal enthusiast and previously performed as lead vocalist for a metal band, and enjoys distance running and weight lifting. A habitual commuter, he resides with his wife Natalia in Colorado and spends extensive time reporting from his second residence in the Pacific Northwest.