Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 FEBRUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE W hen Bryce Young got up after his first sack of the 2025 season, he made sure to make the moment count. Young ran up the field, screamed and swung his hands downward like a lum- berjack chopping wood. The sack hap- pened in the third quarter of a blowout, with the Irish leading Purdue 49-23, but that didn't matter. Enthusiasm is a big part of what makes Young, a sophomore defensive end at Notre Dame, tick on the football field. That's something he learned from his older brother, Colby. "He taught me how to have fun," Young told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "Just having that enthusiasm, no matter how good, how bad it gets." Young also got his competitive side from Colby. They would get into the standard brotherly spats at home — over video games, food, who showered first — but outside the house, they were inseparable. Young said he took on his older brother's passion for football, too. That passion was one of many things stripped away from Bryce and the Young family on Oct. 11, 2016. On that day, Colby Young, the eldest son of former Notre Dame defensive lineman Bryant Young and former Notre Dame track star Kristin Young, passed away from brain cancer at the age of 15. Bryce was 10 years old at the time. It's something he's still processing, nearly a decade since suffering an un- imaginable loss. "He's on my mind every day," Young said. "There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him." This year, though, Young began to share his brother's story publicly. He did so both on his own social media plat- forms and through the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation (PBTF), a leading funder of pediatric brain cancer research, advocacy and family support. His mom is a PBTF board member, and his dad is an ambassador. But in 2025, Young decided now was the time to get involved. In his words, Bryce Young played for Colby this past season. And the impact that came with honoring his brother's legacy stretched well beyond Notre Dame Stadium. "I get the amazing opportunity to be able to connect with people who have gone through the same thing," Young said. "I think that helps me process it, to be able to share my story." AWARENESS AND HOPE In the fall of 2014, Colby Young was diagnosed with a brain tumor about the size of a golf ball. For 8-year-old Bryce, it was a surreal feeling. "It's hard to put into words," Young said. "But like anything, we stuck to- gether. I love my family, and I think it made it stronger." Colby battled cancer for two years, and during that time — according to a 2017 ESPN story — he raised more than $50,000 for the Pediatric Brain Tu- mor Foundation. All the while, Bryce remembers, he was still the Colby he always knew. "Just the way he approached things with enthusiasm, no matter how he was feel- ing," Young said. "He was committed, you know, just that enthusiastic, fun-spirited kid. You couldn't change that about him with whatever you threw his way. And that was something super inspiring." UNDER THE DOME FOR COLBY How Notre Dame defensive end Bryce Young dedicated the 2025 season to his late brother Young spent the past season honoring his brother's legacy and keeping his memory alive. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER