THEY STOOD IN THE GAP
8/9/2019 10:25:00 AM | Football
Nance and Young Take on Teaching, Coaching Roles with Baylor Football.
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Brian Nance had a chip on his shoulders as big as the Rock of Gibraltar.
"I had a teacher tell me a long time ago that I would never be anything in life, that I wouldn't go to school or play sports or anything," he said. "I knew I had something to prove, not just for that but for my family. To be one of the first ones in my family to actually finish college, that was a big deal. That's all I really cared about, just getting that degree, especially from Baylor University. That's why I'm die-hard Baylor. I bleed green and gold."
Message to that teacher: Brian Nance is something.
Initially hired for a part-time position, the former Baylor defensive end is now assistant director of football operations.
"It's such a blessing just getting the opportunity to come back to my alma mater," said Nance, a 2018 Baylor graduate and three-year letterman who played for Matt Rhule's first team in 2017. "Just being around the guys, being around that feeling again, it fires you up."
Rhule has brought back two of his players from that 1-11 team in 2017, adding linebacker Taylor Young as a graduate assistant coach.
"I always want us to realize that we stand on the shoulders of the people who came before us. We are here because of the many people who sacrificed here," said Rhule, who presented Nance and Young with rings from last year's Texas Bowl at a practice earlier this week. "To have two guys who are Baylor grads be able to come back here, that played for us, I think that's awesome. And these guys are difference-makers."
Coming out of Euless Trinity High School, Nance was a four-star recruit with offers from Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Nebraska and USC, among others.
After spending one year at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy and redshirting at Baylor in 2013, he was a reserve defensive lineman for two seasons and had to sit out a year before finishing on a high note with a career-high 33 tackles, 8 ½ tackles for loss and 2 ½ sacks as a senior. He earned his degree in health, kinesiology and leisure studies in May 2018.
"Obviously, I missed my junior year, and it kind of woke me up," Nance said. "You go through rough stages to get where you want to go. But, it helped me out a lot, because I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. You're going to hit rough spots in your life, but if somebody's there to mentor you and help you, take advantage of that."
That's part of Nance's role now, being kind of a Big Brother and "just making sure the players are doing what they're supposed to do," he said.
"I'm helping out with the guys in the d-line, making sure they're staying out of trouble off the field . . . really turning them from boys to men," he said. "Telling them the do's and don'ts, getting to that next level, going to the real world. Whatever I can do to help them out to be successful, that's what I'm about."
Rhule talks about guys like Nance and Young "standing in the gap," helping the Bears get through a tough season and setting the stage for what happened with last year's 7-6 finish and Texas Bowl victory over Vanderbilt.
"We didn't care about the record, it was about rising up as a brotherhood, staying tough, just building the brand, never giving up," Nance said. "I can remember TY (Young) going down in that last home game against Iowa State. It was tough, but I just knew we were going to leave it on the field. And I can recall the TCU game like it was yesterday. Me, Taion Sells, TY, all of us, we didn't want to come off that field. It was an emotional game, but it was good emotions. We gave it all we had, we did everything we could. We told them in the locker room, 'Hey, just work hard. Don't be in this situation again. This is the start of something good.'''
Nance, who volunteered with the Temple High football team last fall while teaching at the middle school, said it was a different feeling when he heard "Coach Nance" for the first time.
"I feel like I've got a lot of respect and control in the room when I'm talking," he said. "I've got a lot of respect for those guys, and I know they respect me and TY. They know what we did for this program and for the brand. They know that day-in and day-out we were grinders and we were trying to set the tone for what the future is going to be."
A four-year starter at Baylor who was part of the 2014 Big 12 championship team, Young said he was a "little iffy" about getting into coaching when Rhule first mentioned it early in the 2017 season. With aspirations of playing pro ball until that late-season injury, he said, "I didn't even want (coaching) to cross my mind."
While rehabbing from the injury and training for Baylor's Pro Day workout, "I guess it became more realistic that football is going to be over for me," Young said. Initially, he took an office job and didn't like it, because "I feel like I have to be around people and impacting people in some type of way."
Young got that chance in June when he came back in a role in the football operations office and then shifted to graduate assistant with the start of football camp.
"I might like coaching better (than playing), honestly," he said. "Just seeing how you can coach somebody up, because they personally think they're not that good, and then you can just make them click over in like a week. Man, that's fulfilling for me."
The coaching bug first hit Taylor on a mission trip to Brazil in May 2016, when he was helping coach a start-up team. "That's when it really clicked to me. That was my first taste of it. They didn't speak any English, but I loved it."
Even though he was a high school All-American and Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at DeSoto High School, Young's only other scholarship offer was from ULM.
"A lot of young guys are so down, because they come in here with this certain expectation that I'm going to come in and I'm going to work and I'm going to have this starting spot by the time the season comes around," said Young, a December 2016 Baylor grad. "It just doesn't work that way. I remember how I felt.
"I try to tell the younger guys who weren't recruited that much, that didn't have a lot of scholarships, I only had one and I started for four years. Everybody's story is different, but I just tell them to control what you can control, work as hard as you can and just be ready for your opportunity. That's what happened to me. I got lucky, and I thank God that I was ready for it."
Rhule, who had seven staffers off last year's team leave to take other jobs, said he likes having former players around that can relate to players and talk about their experiences.
"You want guys that can sit there and talk to the young players and be there for them and understand what they're going through, but not enable them," Rhule said. "You can't say, 'Hey, it's OK.' No, teach them the right way and grow up them up the right way."
Young says it's not in his DNA to accept anything but the players' best.
"That's never been me," he said. "I try my best to be their friends off the field, try to understand them and talk with them. But, when it's time to get on the field, if you're not giving your all, I'm going to let you know about it."
Even though their playing days are over, Nance and Young have an excitement level about the 2019 season.
"I don't really like to talk about it too much, just because I want the guys to think about Game 1, Game 2," Young said. "But, I've been a part of two championship teams (at Baylor). I'm not going to say that this team just reminds me of that, but it has the chance to be one of those great teams. It has all the tools. Now, it's up to us to see what we're going to do with it and how we're going to play and what young guys are going to step up, because you've got to have young guys play big to win."
When Nance got his Texas bowl ring on Monday – all the 2017 seniors will get one – he FaceTimed his family and showed it off to everyone.
"I can't even take credit for what those guys did last year. I have so much respect for them," Nance said. "They didn't have to do that for our senior class, because we didn't do the work on the field to get to that bowl game. But, it was a blessing. I salute guys like (Sam) Tecklenburg and Grayland (Arnold) and (JaMycal) Hasty. They know what we've been through – the tough times, the 16 gassers, everything we did. Now, we're trying to get some bigger things going here."
Baylor Bear Insider
Brian Nance had a chip on his shoulders as big as the Rock of Gibraltar.
"I had a teacher tell me a long time ago that I would never be anything in life, that I wouldn't go to school or play sports or anything," he said. "I knew I had something to prove, not just for that but for my family. To be one of the first ones in my family to actually finish college, that was a big deal. That's all I really cared about, just getting that degree, especially from Baylor University. That's why I'm die-hard Baylor. I bleed green and gold."
Message to that teacher: Brian Nance is something.
Initially hired for a part-time position, the former Baylor defensive end is now assistant director of football operations.
"It's such a blessing just getting the opportunity to come back to my alma mater," said Nance, a 2018 Baylor graduate and three-year letterman who played for Matt Rhule's first team in 2017. "Just being around the guys, being around that feeling again, it fires you up."
Rhule has brought back two of his players from that 1-11 team in 2017, adding linebacker Taylor Young as a graduate assistant coach.
"I always want us to realize that we stand on the shoulders of the people who came before us. We are here because of the many people who sacrificed here," said Rhule, who presented Nance and Young with rings from last year's Texas Bowl at a practice earlier this week. "To have two guys who are Baylor grads be able to come back here, that played for us, I think that's awesome. And these guys are difference-makers."
Coming out of Euless Trinity High School, Nance was a four-star recruit with offers from Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Nebraska and USC, among others.
After spending one year at Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy and redshirting at Baylor in 2013, he was a reserve defensive lineman for two seasons and had to sit out a year before finishing on a high note with a career-high 33 tackles, 8 ½ tackles for loss and 2 ½ sacks as a senior. He earned his degree in health, kinesiology and leisure studies in May 2018.
"Obviously, I missed my junior year, and it kind of woke me up," Nance said. "You go through rough stages to get where you want to go. But, it helped me out a lot, because I don't want anyone else to have to go through that. You're going to hit rough spots in your life, but if somebody's there to mentor you and help you, take advantage of that."
That's part of Nance's role now, being kind of a Big Brother and "just making sure the players are doing what they're supposed to do," he said.
"I'm helping out with the guys in the d-line, making sure they're staying out of trouble off the field . . . really turning them from boys to men," he said. "Telling them the do's and don'ts, getting to that next level, going to the real world. Whatever I can do to help them out to be successful, that's what I'm about."
Rhule talks about guys like Nance and Young "standing in the gap," helping the Bears get through a tough season and setting the stage for what happened with last year's 7-6 finish and Texas Bowl victory over Vanderbilt.
"We didn't care about the record, it was about rising up as a brotherhood, staying tough, just building the brand, never giving up," Nance said. "I can remember TY (Young) going down in that last home game against Iowa State. It was tough, but I just knew we were going to leave it on the field. And I can recall the TCU game like it was yesterday. Me, Taion Sells, TY, all of us, we didn't want to come off that field. It was an emotional game, but it was good emotions. We gave it all we had, we did everything we could. We told them in the locker room, 'Hey, just work hard. Don't be in this situation again. This is the start of something good.'''
Nance, who volunteered with the Temple High football team last fall while teaching at the middle school, said it was a different feeling when he heard "Coach Nance" for the first time.
"I feel like I've got a lot of respect and control in the room when I'm talking," he said. "I've got a lot of respect for those guys, and I know they respect me and TY. They know what we did for this program and for the brand. They know that day-in and day-out we were grinders and we were trying to set the tone for what the future is going to be."
A four-year starter at Baylor who was part of the 2014 Big 12 championship team, Young said he was a "little iffy" about getting into coaching when Rhule first mentioned it early in the 2017 season. With aspirations of playing pro ball until that late-season injury, he said, "I didn't even want (coaching) to cross my mind."
While rehabbing from the injury and training for Baylor's Pro Day workout, "I guess it became more realistic that football is going to be over for me," Young said. Initially, he took an office job and didn't like it, because "I feel like I have to be around people and impacting people in some type of way."
Young got that chance in June when he came back in a role in the football operations office and then shifted to graduate assistant with the start of football camp.
"I might like coaching better (than playing), honestly," he said. "Just seeing how you can coach somebody up, because they personally think they're not that good, and then you can just make them click over in like a week. Man, that's fulfilling for me."
The coaching bug first hit Taylor on a mission trip to Brazil in May 2016, when he was helping coach a start-up team. "That's when it really clicked to me. That was my first taste of it. They didn't speak any English, but I loved it."
Even though he was a high school All-American and Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at DeSoto High School, Young's only other scholarship offer was from ULM.
"A lot of young guys are so down, because they come in here with this certain expectation that I'm going to come in and I'm going to work and I'm going to have this starting spot by the time the season comes around," said Young, a December 2016 Baylor grad. "It just doesn't work that way. I remember how I felt.
"I try to tell the younger guys who weren't recruited that much, that didn't have a lot of scholarships, I only had one and I started for four years. Everybody's story is different, but I just tell them to control what you can control, work as hard as you can and just be ready for your opportunity. That's what happened to me. I got lucky, and I thank God that I was ready for it."
Rhule, who had seven staffers off last year's team leave to take other jobs, said he likes having former players around that can relate to players and talk about their experiences.
"You want guys that can sit there and talk to the young players and be there for them and understand what they're going through, but not enable them," Rhule said. "You can't say, 'Hey, it's OK.' No, teach them the right way and grow up them up the right way."
Young says it's not in his DNA to accept anything but the players' best.
"That's never been me," he said. "I try my best to be their friends off the field, try to understand them and talk with them. But, when it's time to get on the field, if you're not giving your all, I'm going to let you know about it."
Even though their playing days are over, Nance and Young have an excitement level about the 2019 season.
"I don't really like to talk about it too much, just because I want the guys to think about Game 1, Game 2," Young said. "But, I've been a part of two championship teams (at Baylor). I'm not going to say that this team just reminds me of that, but it has the chance to be one of those great teams. It has all the tools. Now, it's up to us to see what we're going to do with it and how we're going to play and what young guys are going to step up, because you've got to have young guys play big to win."
When Nance got his Texas bowl ring on Monday – all the 2017 seniors will get one – he FaceTimed his family and showed it off to everyone.
"I can't even take credit for what those guys did last year. I have so much respect for them," Nance said. "They didn't have to do that for our senior class, because we didn't do the work on the field to get to that bowl game. But, it was a blessing. I salute guys like (Sam) Tecklenburg and Grayland (Arnold) and (JaMycal) Hasty. They know what we've been through – the tough times, the 16 gassers, everything we did. Now, we're trying to get some bigger things going here."
Thank you to those who laid the foundation 🐻#SicEm pic.twitter.com/JHxP7NLyzj
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) August 6, 2019
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