Young ready to rebound with big senior year

A little over a year ago, Katy, Texas running back Donovonn Young was one of the most talked about juniors in the Lone Star State. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound power runner transferred from Humble and was supposed to be the next big prospect at the perennial powerhouse.

However, an injury kept him out for much of his junior season. In turn, the interest from colleges waned, especially in a year where the state is loaded at the running back position. Now fully healthy, Young says several programs are beginning to show a renewed interest.

"I've been talking to a few schools since Sep. 1," Young said. "I've been talking to Northwestern, Memphis, UTEP, McNeese State and a few other schools.

"Nobody has sent an offer just yet. They said that they want to see game film from this year. I'm going to have that sent out after we play a couple more games."

Young realizes the lack of playing time as a junior hurt his stock with recruiters, but he has faith that his play his senior year will turn some heads.

"They just want to see what I really can do," he said. "When I was injured last year, it caused schools to back off a little bit. I just have to show them that I'm healthy and can still play like before I got hurt.

"I have to just go through my season and send in the tape. As long as I do what I know I'm capable of, I should have some offers after that. I'm not too worried about it."

At this point, Young says no schools are sticking out and he is open to any program that wishes to recruit him.

"Nobody is really standing out right now," he said. "I was always big on UT but, after I got hurt, I've opened up my mind. All my options are open right now. It doesn't really matter to me right now."

With schools such as Northwestern showing interest, academics should not be a concern for the big back.

"I have a 3.9 GPA so my academics are fine," Young said. "I took the SAT in June but I still don't know the score yet. With a 3.9 GPA, I'll be fine though."

Om Saturday, Young and his Katy teammates traveled to Beaumont to take on the previously unbeaten West Brook Bruins. The Tigers, ranked No. 18 in the latest RivalsHigh 100 national rankings, won handily by the score of 45-21. Though Young was held to 67 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, he does not care about individual stats.

"Honestly, I didn't do as well as I thought I was going to," he said. "Our coaches weren't expecting to have a big running game, though. Brooks (Haack) did really well yesterday passing the ball. Whatever works for the team, it doesn't matter to me. I just want to win."

The Tigers also benefitted from the return of defensive end Nick Narcisse. The standout defensive end was diagnosed with a rare form of throat cancer in February. Though he has lost a lot of weight and did not have the energy to play every down, the team played off the emotion from his return.

"That helped out the team a lot," Young said of Narcisse suiting up for the Tigers. "We were all fired up when he first went out there. When he got the sack and recovered the fumble, we were going nuts. We had been missing Nick. He brings such an added dimension to our defense, both on and off the field. With him back, we have a lot we can do when we have that new dimension to our defense."