From Dollar General manager to Rams star, Byron Young’s rise stands out

Before Byron Young was a third-round NFL draft pick and a starter for the Los Angeles Rams, he was working low-wage retail in Columbus, Georgia, trying to keep a football dream alive. The former Dollar General manager had already spent time at Burger King and Circle K, piecing together work while he looked for a way out of the store and into college football.

Young’s path was anything but typical. He was a zero-star recruit out of Carvers Bay High School in Hemingway, South Carolina, and spent more than a year in Georgia before walking on at Georgia Military College in 2020. The Rams said he started a part-time Dollar General job in his sophomore year at GMC and was later promoted to manager of sales. It was there, while working in the store, that he spotted a flyer advertising a Georgia Military College football tryout.

That flyer changed the shape of his career. When the COVID-19 pandemic canceled Georgia Military College’s 2020 season, Young turned to highlight tapes on Twitter to reach coaches. Tennessee responded and gave him a chance. He played one junior-college season before transferring to Tennessee, where he became a standout immediately. Young led the Volunteers in sacks in both 2021 and 2022 and was named to the 2022 All-SEC First Team by SEC coaches.

The Rams took him with the 77th overall pick in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and he has turned that opportunity into production. NFL.com lists Young with 27.5 career sacks through the 2025 season, including 8 as a rookie in 2023, 7.5 in 2024 and 12 in 2025, along with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

For Dollar General workers, Young’s story is a reminder of how narrow the ladder usually is. A part-time job in a Columbus store did not turn into a standard retail promotion track; it became a detour on the way to the NFL. In December 2025, BET reported that Dollar General brought Young back as a brand partner, a fitting bookend for a player whose rise began behind a register and ended under the lights in Los Angeles.