Young says following McMahon prepared him for Montana

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Steve Young had practice replacing a popular quarterback long before he took over for Joe Montana.

Young faced the difficult challenge of following Jim McMahon at Brigham Young as a junior in 1982, and described the task as "a monster."

"You could not comprehend the success Jim McMahon had at BYU," Young said Saturday at the College Football Hall of Fame, where he was inducted along with 24 others.

"There were other quarterbacks before him that had great success, but he really stretched the envelope. I had to face the doubts and anxieties of a kid coming from nowhere."

Young went on to average 318.8 yards a game in total offense that season. As a senior, he completed 306 of 429 passes and led the nation with a 71.3 completion percentage, 3,802 yards passing, 4,246 yards of total offense and 33 touchdowns. He set 13 NCAA records during his collegiate career.

The lessons he learned by successfully replacing McMahon helped Young when he took the San Francisco 49ers' starting job from Montana in 1991.

"I had already figured out how to do it," he said.

Young still remembers the moment he knew he was a success at BYU. The Cougars had just won at rival Utah 17-12 to finish the regular season 8-3 and clinch a Holiday Bowl berth. He looked at the setting sun just as snow began to fall.

"I thought, 'Holy cow, we're going to the Holiday Bowl,"' Young said. "I did it. I didn't break the string. I think that was one of the greatest moments of my football career."

The 40-year-old Young said he had "scammed" BYU coach LaVell Edwards out of a scholarship by convincing him he could pass, even though he played for a high school team that ran the option.

"It's a humbling thing," Young said of his enshrinement. "I had no right to play college football, let alone professional football. How did this happen? That's the thought that's come out of being elected into the Hall of Fame."

Young becomes the fourth straight BYU quarterback to enter the hall, joining Gifford Nielsen, who played from 1977-79, Marc Wilson (1977-79) and McMahon (1977-81).

Others enshrined into the hall include former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, former Sooners tight end Keith Jackson, former Michigan receiver Anthony Carter and former Mississippi State linebacker D.D. Lewis.

At a morning news conference, the audience turned quiet as Lewis recounted how he lost his wife, children and all his money battling drug and alcohol abuse after retiring from the Dallas Cowboys in 1981.

"My life fell apart. I lost everything," he said. "I hit bottom as hard as any bottom as anyone could hit. Here was a guy who could put a square peg in a round hole with my own might and here I found something I couldn't win. I surrendered to that."

Lewis, 56, said he has been sober for more than 16 years now, and the experience gave him a different look on life.

"You look at adversity, what it does is make better people of us," he said. "Because it slowed my life down and finally allowed me to take a trip inside and find out who I am."

Lewis, the youngest of 14 children, said his father never spent much time at home and finally left when he was in eighth grade. He said he looks back now at the football coaches and teammates who helped him.

"What a great life I've had because of my coaches and the great guys I've played football with," he said.