8 questions with Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young on family and mental health
The excitable kids had been instructed several times to give Bryce Young room.
“Stand in two rows!” camp organizers said.
“He’ll high-five all of you!” they reassured.
“He’s here all day!” they pleaded.
But the kids didn’t listen. They couldn’t. And who could blame them?
Young didn’t mind. As the starting quarterback of the Carolina Panthers made his way down what was supposed to be a makeshift tunnel — but turned into a wholesome mosh-pit of 7- to 13-year-old campers — he smiled and screamed and jumped around with them.
Such was the beginning of a long and muddy but still joyful day at the Harris YMCA in Charlotte on Saturday morning, when Young and his foundation — the Young 9 Foundation — put on the organization’s annual youth football camp. The day featured hundreds of kids, but also several of Young’s coaches and teammates. That included head coach Dave Canales, offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, special teams coach Tracy Smith and a handful of players: Taylor Moton, Devin Lloyd, Bobby Brown III, AJ Dillon to name a few.
Before the camp, however, as the families were waiting for the Charlotte skies to clear, Young sat down briefly with The Charlotte Observer. The reigning NFC South champion QB who’s heading into his fourth year as a pro answered questions on a variety of topics — namely about his own mindfulness practices (mental health is central to The Young Foundation), but also about his family and what it’s like running the kind of camps he attended as a kid.
The interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
8 quick questions with Panthers QB Bryce Young
Alex Zietlow: Did you meditate this morning?
Bryce Young: I did not meditate this morning. Not proudly saying that (laughs). But I do incorporate mindfulness, meditation. I’ve played around with a few different things. My aunt actually helped me out a lot. She’s a yoga instructor. She’s a professor for psychology. She’s a counselor. So she’s helped a lot, helping me find my own (plan), what works best for me.
And for me, I just use it as a tool. I was talking about it a little bit in there: try to always keep a gauge of where I feel like I’m at, mentally, emotionally, and sometimes if I can feel like I’m starting to get overwhelmed, meditation is something I use to keep me grounded, bring me to a central place.
AZ: What is your aunt’s name?
BY: Leslee Frye. She also is one of the heads of our foundation.
AZ: When have you felt overwhelmed?
BY: Plenty of times.
AZ: Bryce Young isn’t allowed to get overwhelmed, is he?
BY: I’m human. Of course, plenty of times. And for me, I think the biggest thing is, I’m not someone who lives in denial. I’m not someone who would say, ‘No no, it’s fine, it’s fine.’ I’m someone who’s trying to be more proactive. When I’m starting to feel like, ‘OK, I’m starting to feel a little more overwhelmed,’ I try to nip in the bud. Whether it’s meditation, whether it’s talking to people, whether it’s taking a break.
In the season, you only get so much time, but for me it’s, ‘OK, I’m gonna take 30 minutes before I start watching film today.’ I wanna go on YouTube, and that’s going to help me decompress. For me, I’m just trying to be proactive and have tools so that I’m not overwhelmed to the point where I can’t function, I can’t be myself.
I think the biggest point for me is being able to acknowledge it. Because if I was like, ‘No, I’m fine, I’m fine.’ Everyone reaches their breaking point eventually when we suppress things. So I try to be proactive and gauge when those feelings come up. And that’s helped me in my process.
AZ: Are these LeBron James highlights on YouTube? (He’s a Lakers fan, yes, but who can resist a good LeBron edit in general?)
BY: Some days they are, for sure.
AZ: Wanted to ask you about the Russell Westbrook camp (brought up earlier in the press conference). You were what, 9 or 10?
BY: Probably younger. Five or six, maybe?
AZ: Was Russ a favorite player of yours?
BY: Yeah. Well, I grew up a UCLA fan. And this was when he was still in college. ... I would go to the UCLA camps where they would have their own camps, too, and they’d have some of their own players work that too.
AZ: How crazy is that? You were looking up to him. And today, there might be a first overall pick in the NFL Draft in this crowd of 8-year-olds.
BY: It’s surreal. I still remember being able to ask him a question, him being super kind and nice enough to talk to me for a second. Yeah, the prospect that I could be on the other end of that, it’s really humbling. It’s surreal for sure. I try not to take that for granted. I try to be able to connect with the kids as much as possible. I try to have conversations as much as possible, to be able to acknowledge everyone.
