Young Narrows His List to Four
Mark Wheeler
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas offensive tackle Sam Young set the recruiting process off to the side while his football season was still in session. Not long after his Raiders lost in the championship game to the Lakeland Drednaughts, he immediately turned his attention to recruiting and promptly narrowed his list to a final four.
The dead period has given Young the opportunity to mull over his college future.
"The coaches have respected the holidays for the most part," said Young. "They're in the middle of their bowl preparations. It's worked out nicely, I've had some time to be alone and concentrate on my decision and think about the direction I want to go in."
With that, Young announced his final four.
"The four I'm interested in are Penn State, Notre Dame, USC and Michigan. All the schools I was considering were great schools. There's not a bad thing you can say about any one of them. I just have a desire to go out of state – spread out a little bit, experience some new things and meet some new people.
"I'm extremely happy with these final four. They are all great academic institutions with incredible football traditions. I don't think I could go wrong with picking any of the four of them."
Young then shared his thoughts on his four finalists.
Southern Cal: "They're on a great run now, but even before this, they've always had a great program. Going out there on my visit it gave me a chance to experience a different atmosphere. I liked the west coast and I liked coach Carroll's style of coaching."
Notre Dame: "It's Notre Dame. After you say that, there isn't a lot more that has to be said. Their rich tradition speaks for itself. I didn't get a chance to go there for an unofficial during the season, but I was there over the summer and Notre Dame has a 'homey' atmosphere. The way the dorms are set up, it's cozy compared to some other campuses. Coach Weis is one of the best offensive coaches in the game. He is unbelievable."
Penn State: "They're one of the teams I grew up watching. I've always been fascinated with them. They have this motto, I'm not sure of it exactly, but it's something like 'Black shoes, basic blues, no names, all game.' That fits me. That fits the team first attitude that I want to be a part of. Happy Valley is a great place and even though they've had a few down years, they have an incredible program and tradition."
Michigan: "They have an unbelievable tradition of winning. It's been a rough year for them, but overall they are in the upper echelon of college football. Coach Carr is as close to what the ideal college coach is as there is. He fits the persona."
Young has decided not to take that fifth official visit. According to him, his visit list consists of Southern Cal (12/16), Notre Dame (1/13), Penn State (1/20) and Michigan (1/27).
However, don't quote him on that order. It may not be totally accurate.
"The Penn State and Notre Dame visits could be switched around," said the 6-foot-8, 300-pound tackle. "I can never remember which one is first out of those two. It might be Penn State first and then Notre Dame. I know Michigan is coming up that last week."
Strangely enough, the only two unofficial visits Young took during the season, were to two colleges who didn't make his finalists. He visited Florida for the Tennessee game and Miami for their match-up with Georgia Tech.
"The funny thing is, out of all the schools recruiting me, I felt like I have the best relationship with the coaches from those two schools. It boiled down to them being instate. It came down to wanting to spread out some and experience new things. Both of those schools would be excellent choices and have many great things going in their favor. For me, right now, I'm better off going out-of-state."
