Last month the Bills added a Pro Personnel Director and a College Scouting Director to their personnel department. When asked if the additions were complete, General Manager Buddy Nix left the door open saying they were finished adding "at this time." A month later the club decided to add another set of eyes to their scouting department in Theo Young.
Young joins the Buffalo Bills staff from Baylor University where he served as the team's defensive line coach since 2008. Young coached tight ends under current Bills General Manager Buddy Nix at Tennessee-Chattanooga in 1992. He also participated in the NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship program with the Buffalo Bills in 1996.
Knowing a lot of NFL scouts come from a coaching background, Young feels he'll be able to adapt quickly to his new role with Buffalo.
"It's pretty similar to college recruiting," Young told Buffalobills.com. "You try to get the right guy that'll be the right fit so your team is better off. You also want to make sure you get the people above me and the coaches to understand what you see in a player."
A native of Newport, Arkansas, Young has 21 years of college coaching experience, and was a four-year letterman (1983-86) and two-year starter at tight end with the University of Arkansas. He also played tight end for two seasons in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1987-88).
He also worked as a tight ends coach under Bills GM Buddy Nix at Tennessee-Chattanooga when Nix was the program's head coach.
"It was early in my career. I had just gotten a GA job in Arkansas in the early 90's and the opportunity came up to coach with Coach Nix at Chattanooga," said Young. "I got to know him very well and I liked the way he coached. He's straight forward and tells you what he wants and he listens to his coaches. I've always kept in contact to let him know what I'm doing. It's been a good relationship, but it's been a while since I worked with him."
Young will serve as a college scout and his primary scouting region will include schools in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas. Having coached in the Big 12 conference the past three seasons at Baylor, it's familiar territory.
"I'm looking forward to seeing guys that I coached against and I know some of the players at other schools having recruited them," he said. "I'm excited. I really am."
In the wake of Young's hiring college scout Matt Hand has been reassigned to the west coast and will be responsible for schools in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The Bills also announced the addition of Tim Atkins as a football operations assistant replacing Pete Harris, who assumed a new role as scouting assistant.
