Titus Young Impressing Lions On And Off Field

Just a few weeks ago, Titus Young was barred from the Detroit Lions' facility for an alleged sucker punch on teammate Louis Delmas. To say the least, there weren't many good things being said about Young at the time, and for good reason.

Since Young returned two weeks ago, the tone on him has been completely different. He helped himself with fans by releasing a statement that included an apology when he returned, and he further helped himself by fielding questions from the media a week later.

Within the locker room, Young quickly patched things up with Delmas, and there is no bad blood between them or between Young and any of his other teammates. According to Dave Birkett, Lions president Tom Lewand recently mentioned that Young has been "nothing short of spectacular" in the locker room since returning.

On the field, Young has been even more impressive. He showed flashes of brilliance during his rookie season, and hopes were extremely high for him going into the offseason. Now, hopes might be even higher with all of the praise Jim Schwartz heaped on Young earlier this week.

"He's had a good run since he's been back with the team," Lions coach Jim Schwartz. "He's made big plays in just about every practice. He's worked hard, he's been a good teammate, and he's probably looked the best that I've ever seen him look in this couple of weeks span.

"We just need to keep him on that track, because he's been outstanding the last couple weeks. You weren't seeing ghosts out there. You were seeing the same things that we've been seeing."

There has been praise for Young from Schwartz, Lewand, teammates and the media. By all accounts, he is practicing like he could establish himself not just as a big contributor for the Lions in 2012, but perhaps as a breakout star in the NFL. Based on everything I've read about how he's looked the past couple weeks, it's hard not to be excited about the progress Young seems to be making both as a player and a teammate.

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