By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – Effingham County’s new defensive coordinator Steve Young will ask his defensive players to be in the right place at the right time – a lot like he was when he tackled the Rebels’ job.
Young joined the staff when an opening arose in the defensive secondary after the 2023 season and was positioned to take over the defensive unit when coordinator William Pannell moved to Athens a year later.
“I love the relationship with the kids,” said Young, who teaches special education at ECHS. “I love giving back, being an example and helping through football.”
Young, 43, has been a defensive assistant for about 20 years after briefly playing at Chowan University, a Division II school in Murfreesboro, N.C.
In 2009, he helped Essex High School win a Division 2 football state championship in Virginia.
Before coming to Effingham County, he worked as a defensive coordinator at Trinity Catholic, a college prep school located in Ocala, Fla.
In 2023, the Celtics advanced to the Class 1S state championship game before losing to Cardinal Mooney.
“(Young) stood out for his leadership, his preparation and the culture he was part of and the intangibles,” ECHS head coach John Ford said. “Last year, he did a great job with our young secondary. We had injuries and he did a good job keeping everyone together. He’s a great communicator and I believe he can get the best out of (the defense).”
That defense will be on display Thursday night when ECHS plays its spring game against Richmond Hill at Rebel Field.
Young has some rebuilding to do before the season opens for real on Aug. 23 against Houston County. The Rebels posted a 6-5 record and advanced to the state playoffs a year ago, but in the five losses the defense surrendered 44, 47, 42, 58 and 51 points.
ECHS returns only three players who started last season – defensive lineman Landon Carter, linebacker Duff Davis and defensive back Kris Swinney.
Six-foot-3, 225-pound safety Genard Albright is expected to help.
Young joked about having the same name as NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young who quarterbacked San Francisco to a Super Bowl championship in 1995.
“It’ll be hard for opponents to find out a lot about me (for defensive tendencies) on the Internet,” ECHS’ Young said.
He said his scheme will adapt to the personnel.
“I think you work with what you’re given,” Young said. “If you come in and say you’re going to run a specific scheme, it never works because you can’t fit a square peg in a round hole. We’re not a college. We’ve got what we’ve got. Now how do you max out the skill set we have?”
Young says he hopes to see “effort, effort, effort and basics,” from the scrimmage with Richmond Hill.
“I want to see the players playing together and pushing each other,” Young said. “We gave up a lot in the run last year so we have to find a way to mitigate that.”
