National Signing Day 2016: Bryson Young signs with Oregon

Oregon football added a four-star defensive end and linebacker to its 2016 recruiting class, as Bryson Young made his decision final on Wednesday's National Signing Day. The Ducks plan to use him as an outside linebacker.

Young's devotion to make the program stronger should go unquestioned, as the 6'5, 220-pound prospect decided to make his verbal commitment hours after the Ducks fell at home to Washington State – another program he was given an offer to – in double-overtime in October. He officially visited Eugene two weeks earlier in late September, as he watched the Ducks fall 62-20 to Utah.

The No. 17 weak-side defensive end in the nation, who stands as the No. 36 recruit in his home state of California, likely tells a more unique personal story than anyone who outranks him.

Before his sophomore season, Young lost a tooth while supervising a teammate who was weight lifting, he told the Oregonian, as an unfastened weight plate fell, and the disproportionate bar wavered to hit the recruit in the mouth during his attempt to save the falling equipment. A root canal procedure left a metal brace in his mouth, but despite his doctor's warnings he attended the day's non-contact practice.

Young chose the Ducks over offers from Michigan, Tennessee, UCLA and USC among others.