Young to narrow focus soon

Dedrick Young has 12 scholarship offers and the rough draft of a plan. He intends to take all of the official visits allotted to him by NCAA bylaws before settling on a program. He also plans to end his recruitment well before signing day. The process will start with a trimming of his list. And that, it seems, will take place with haste.

"I'm about to narrow my list down in a couple weeks," Young said. "Definitely in a couple weeks. It will be down to five or six. I haven't narrowed them all down yet, but I'm almost there."

Some teams have already made their way through to Young's cluster of finalists. He declines to share which schools have qualified, but certain ones are solid bets to be standing following the cut. Arizona State and Arizona like their chances. So does UCLA, which was the destination for Young's last unofficial visit.

"It was early July," Young said. "It was nice out there. It was real nice. I liked it."

With his list-trimming dawning near, Young watched what he says about various programs as not to tip his hand. He will, however, share the criteria he is using to eliminate schools.

"Mostly, it's just, do I like the program? Do I like where it's located? And can I see myself playing there?," Young said.

Young plays both offense and defense in Peoria (Ariz.) Centennial High School and is being recruited at both running back and linebacker. He says he is without a position preference, but it seems naive to believe his future position won't play a roll in his decision.

"Some want me at linebacker and there's a few for running back. It doesn't matter to me. I'll play wherever they want me to play.

"Arizona State wants me at linebacker. Arizona wants me mostly for linebacker and UCLA wants me for both or either."