June 13, 2000 
 How Young almost became a BYU DB - and other random career notes

Ron Kroichick, Chronicle Staff Writer 

To think, he was nearly the next Ronnie Lott. That could have become a messy saga, flowing with thick locker-room tension and splashy headlines every day. Ronnie vs. Steve -- who should start in the defensive backfield for the 49ers? 

Maybe it sounds preposterous, but Steve Young almost played safety. Brigham Young coach LaVell Edwards approached spring practice in 1981 with this surprising item (at least in retrospect) on his agenda: Move the Young kid to defense. 

It was not an impulsive idea. Young played quarterback at Greenwich High School in Connecticut, but his team ran the option. He did not throw even five passes per game, by Edwards' recollection. 

Moreover, BYU had a couple of veteran quarterbacks on its roster in '81, including a brash senior named Jim McMahon. Young was clearly an outstanding athlete, so Edwards toyed with other ways to get him on the field. 

``Steve wanted to be a quarterback, but in the back of my mind I thought he was going to be a defensive back for us,'' Edwards said recently. ``He really had to work at learning how and when to throw. It wasn't that he couldn't throw; he had just never done it before.'' 

Edwards hired Ted Tollner as quarterbacks coach after Young's freshman season (Tollner stayed only one year). Nineteen years later, Tollner remembers the sequence of events as if it unfolded 19 minutes ago. 

He arrived in Provo, Utah, not knowing much about Young, other than his option background. Tollner quickly came to like Young's personality; plus, his footwork was efficient and his release was quick. Tollner thought he could become a good college quarterback. 

Tollner, knowing what Edwards had in store, sat down and talked to Young. He really wanted to play quarterback, so Tollner then went to Edwards and encouraged him to rethink his plans. 

``I made the pitch to LaVell on Steve's behalf,'' Tollner said. ``I told LaVell how impressed I was with Steve and he slept on it. He kept Steve at quarterback, Jim got hurt the next season, and Steve played (a few games) as a sophomore. The rest is history.'' 

History, as in Heisman Trophy runner-up to Nebraska running back Mike Rozier in 1983. History, as in the highest-rated passer in NFL history. History, as in at least one newspaper publishing a special section when the guy retires. 

``Even though Steve had not played quarterback that much -- the passing part -- 

he still thought like a quarterback,'' Edwards said. ``The biggest thing he had to learn was patience. He wasn't the most patient guy in the world. He would drop back and if there wasn't something immediately open, he would take off and run, because he was so good at that.'' 

Young? Take off and run? Get outta here. 

NO HEADBAND HERE 

You can almost picture the scene: Jim McMahon strutting around the practice field, defiant and amused by the ambitious, intelligent kid from the East Coast. This predated the Super Bowl shuffle, predated McMahon's strange fling with NFL fame, but the contrast in personalities was still striking. 

``In Jim's mind, Steve was not a threat,'' said Tollner, now San Diego State's head coach. ``Steve respected Jim as a player, but he also knew he could play. . . . They had different character make-ups. Jim was more of a normal college kid. He liked to play golf, have a beer. Steve was focused on football and school.'' 

Young played behind McMahon in '81, then took over as the starter the next two seasons. Safe to say, Young never duplicated some of McMahon's most outrageous antics -- or can you picture old No. 8 mooning a helicopter? 

Nah, didn't think so. 

HEY, LEFTY 

Young and Kenny Stabler are the only left-handed quarterbacks to lead teams to Super Bowl titles. They also are the top contenders for the distinction as best lefty quarterback in NFL history. 

The list of candidates is not especially long. There was Frankie Albert, who played for the 49ers in the late 1940s and early '50s. There was Stabler, who spun his magic for the Raiders in the '70s. And there was Young. 

Otherwise, the collection of southpaws qualifies as unremarkable. Bobby Douglass rushed for nearly 1,000 yards for the Chicago Bears (968 in 1972), but he lacked polish as a passer. Jim Zorn had his moments for Seattle. Boomer Esiason took Cincinnati to Super Bowl XXIII against the 49ers before bouncing around the league. Mark Brunell of Jacksonville draws plenty of valid Young comparisons. 

Left-handed quarterbacks are so rare, they scramble conventional wisdom for coaches. John Madden said he was accustomed to teaching quarterbacks to do certain things with their left foot, other things with their right foot, turn their left shoulder, etc. All those lessons assumed the quarterback was right-handed. 

Then along came Stabler. 

``It's strange initially, because you've always been coaching right-handers,'' said Madden, Stabler's coach with the Oakland Raiders. ``The snap becomes a little different, the rotation of the pass becomes different for the receivers, things like that. 

``I imagine Jerry Rice probably had a really tough adjustment. After everything coming from Montana's right hand, then he had Young throwing from the left side. Jerry probably had to make the biggest adjustment.'' 

Raiders coach Jon Gruden worked as a 49ers assistant in 1990, when Young played in six games (including one start) in relief of Montana. Most of the plays the 49ers ran were designed for a right-handed quarterback -- having Montana roll to his right, for instance. 

Offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren usually did not have time to change everything when Young replaced Montana. So, as Gruden recalled, Young frequently rolled to his right anyway, just because that's the way the offense ran the play in practice. 

``He was inhibited at times,'' Gruden said. 

YOUNG & CLARK 

Young completed his NFL career with 232 touchdown passes. His favorite target, naturally, was Jerry Rice -- they combined for 85 touchdown passes, more than any quarterback-receiver tandem in league history. 

Buried at the bottom of the Young TD list is none other than Dwight Clark. He caught exactly one touchdown pass from Young. 

Their San Francisco playing careers overlapped by only one year, 1987. That was Young's first season with the 49ers and Clark's last. 

Late in the season, the 49ers played the Chicago Bears on Monday night, December 14, at Candlestick Park. Joe Montana injured his left hamstring, so Young played most of the game. He promptly threw four touchdown passes in San Francisco's 41-0 victory. One of those TD passes went to Clark, a 13-yarder with 3:40 left in the second quarter. That was it, the only touchdown connection between two of the most famous players in franchise history. Maybe that's fitting, given Clark's enduring association with Montana and ``The Catch.'' 

Young and Clark intersected again, sort of, after an infamous loss to the Los Angeles Raiders in 1991. Young threw two interceptions in that game, while Montana nursed an elbow injury. Afterward, an out-of-control Charles Haley nearly attacked Young in the locker room. 

Clark was an analyst on the Channel 5 postgame show at the time. He went on the air and essentially said Montana would have won the game in his sleep, a comment that only fueled the raging Joe/Steve debate in the Bay Area. 

HELMET, SCHMELMET 

One of the most revealing snapshots of Young unfolded in the most meaningless of moments. It happened on Aug. 13, 1995, during an exhibition game in San Diego against the Chargers. 

Young's helmet flew off during one of his signature scrambles. He got hit awkwardly and the helmet dislodged itself from his head, just plopped down right there on the green grass. 

So did the man with the law degree process the frightening possibilities awaiting him? Did he quickly calculate the risk of injury and slide safely to earth? Did he realize the folly of a helmet-less gallop and seek the sanctuary of the sideline? 

No, he ran downfield with customary abandon. 

``On the football field, he was hard-headed,'' John Madden said, chuckling at the memory. ``That play was Steve Young. That kind of sums him up. He's a lawyer and all that, but it's kind of like clean dirt. On one side there's brilliance, on the other side, `Whoa!' '' 

FOUTS ON YOUNG 

Dan Fouts knows the way to Canton, Ohio, site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Young figures to join Fouts there, given his extraordinary career. 

Fouts -- born and raised in San Francisco, later a sportscaster here -- passed for more than 43,000 yards in his 15-year career with the San Diego Chargers. His style differed from Young's, to say the least: Fouts was a classic drop-back passer, with little of Young's penchant for running. 

Even so, Fouts is eminently qualified to put Young's career in perspective. 

``Steve moved you to the front of your chair,'' Fouts said last week from his home in Oregon. ``At least early in his career, he was so unpredictable, such a daring player. He was so much fun to watch. 

``As he matured and got more of an understanding for his role, his accuracy was phenomenal. It's fun to see when a quarterback throws the ball not hoping it's complete, but expecting it to be complete. 

``He certainly marked himself as a quarterback like no other before him.''