How good is Vincent Young?

6'5" 200. 4.5 (machine timed), as modest as can be. Bad mechanics. His team was picked 3rd in the district but ended up 14-1. He would embarass Simms in anything except a long distance toss. He's that good.

 

Physically, he's a marvel. He seems to make good decisions when he's pressured, though that rarely happens.

He does have some minor mechanical flaws(sidearm delivery, throws off back foot), but his arm strength is such that those were largely mitigated in high school.

He is one of the best players I have ever seen, and if he develops like I expect him too, will be a great, great player.

 

puedlfor, great description. I've heard him call a taller Vick. I have personally seen him launch it 50 yards, off his back foot, side arm amd right on the money. He's a genetic freak. Athletically, he could give McNabb or Culpepper a run for his money. Right now.

 

in trying to understand how good Vincent Young is, you might want to consider the following statistical summary of Young's 2001 season:

In leading his team to a 14-1 record, Young rushed for 1,735 yards and 22 touchdowns and threw for 2,432 yards and 31 touchdowns.

you might have participated in the other thread where, if you stared at the picture, you'd see a ghost.

well, this is the same way. if you stare at those stats for 60 seconds, you will also see a ghost. . . the ghost of DAMN!!

 

my father is a huge high school football fan and has been since the 50's...without asking, he'll run down for you his greatest high school players ever.

he and i went to the astrodome to see madison beat up on the new fort bend school (name escapes me now)...young was absolutely amazing. on the first series, facing a third and long....he rolls out right and throws back 40 yards to his left to a receiver running a post pattern who had probably 1/2 step on his defender...the ball was perfectly placed right where it needed to be. then on another series he does the same thing hitting a receiver in the end zone. the kid is amazing. my father, a big UT fan, immediately said, "this kid is already better than simms." as we walked out of the stadium he said, "that's easily the best qb i've ever seen at a high school football game."

 

"How good is Vincent Young?"

Not as good as Reggie McNeal.

Vince Young is an amazing player(I say this having only seen one of his games, though), but IMO Reggie is the best in the state.

At 6'2 195, Reggie isn't as large as Young, but is faster(40 in 4.32)

He was definitely robbed of all-state honors. He of course lost to the players in the bigger market(Young and Tate). But McNeal has done something that neither Young nor Tate can claim, he has led his team to a state championship.

He has the best gamebreaking ability in recent years of high school football.

He is likened by many to former Virginia Tech great Michael Vick.

He has also been said to throw it over 70 yards!
http://espn.go.com/recruiting/s/rmcneal.html

 

Edit

 

Young commits to Texas
Houston Madison quarterback considered by some as the top football recruit in the country

By Suzanne Halliburton
American-Statesman Staff
Monday, January 14, 2002

Houston Madison quarterback Vincent Young, considered by some as the top football recruit in the country, committed to the University of Texas Sunday night, hours after he finished his weekend visit to Austin.

Young also is the No. 1 player on the Austin American-Statesman's Fabulous 55, a list of the state's top prospects.

In addition, lineman Kasey Studdard, of Littleton, Col., gave a pledge to the Longhorns over the weekend, giving UT 25 commitments with three weeks remaining until national signing day on Feb. 6.

Young represents a huge pickup for Texas, which, according to national recruiting service Rivals100.com, already was putting together the country's top recruiting class.

"That's where my heart was," Young said of Texas. "I liked everything around (the program). Everything was really nice."

Later Sunday, Young announced his commitment on a Houston television station.

Young also had been considering national champion Miami and Arkansas. He said that he was canceling those visits.

Young is the fourth No. 1 player on the Fab 55, and the third in the row, to commit to Texas in the past five years. UT Coach Mack Brown also signed offensive guard Antwan Kirk-Hughes (1998), wide receiver B.J. Johnson (2000) and running back Cedric Benson (2001).

Young, 6 feet 5 inches and 200 pounds, has been described as a taller version of Michael Vick, the former Virginia Tech quarterback who was the top choice in last year's NFL draft. He also has been likened to Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who was a first-round selection in 1999.

Young baffled defenses in the fall with his arm strength, speed and intelligence. As a senior, he rushed for 1,735 yards and 22 touchdowns and passed for 2,432 yards and 31 TDs.

Young's team won 14 games in a row before Westlake ended Madison's season in the state 5A semifinals. In that game, Young scored five touchdowns.

There have been reports that Young wanted to redshirt his freshman season in college. But Young said Sunday that he will leave that decision to the UT coaches.

Studdard is ranked as the 10th-best offensive guard in the country by Rivals100.com, but he is being recruited as a defensive lineman by the Longhorns. Studdard's father, David, played for UT from 1975-77 and for the Denver Broncos from 1978-89. His uncle, Les Studdard, also started for Texas.

Studdard selected the Longhorns over Colorado after also looking at Miami and Tennessee.

"It came down to family and me following my heart," said Studdard, 6-3, 270. "It was the toughest decision I've ever had to make."

Brown, who is known as a masterful recruiter, probably is putting together his best class. Of the 25 commitments, five are rated the maximum five stars by Rivals100.com and 14 are rated four stars. Young has a five-star ranking; Studdard is a four-star.

With 25 commitments, Texas probably will try to secure pledges from only two more players. Midland Lee tight end Eric Winston, who is No. 8 on the Fab 55, also visited UT over the weekend. But he said Sunday he still is taking more visits.

Should be interesting to watch Young and McNeal progress at the next level.

http://www.austin360.com/aas/horns/football/recruiting/0114texasfoot.html

 

McNeal plays in Lufkin, Tate plays for Baytown.

Compare McNeals #'s to Young's. McNeqal threw more ints than TD's. Reggie also completed less than 50% of his passes. Young threw for 35 td's and 4 ints, not a bad ratio. Young also rushed for 1700 yards and 22 td's. Young's team was picked to finish third in his district and ended up 14-1. Lufkin was the preseason #1 team, so I think they had as much, if not more talent.

 

young got madison further than they should have been...they had one of the worst defenses i could ever remember from team that advanced so far in the playoffs...they couldn't stop anyone...they relied on Young to outscore the opponent.

 

Do you disagree? You think that Lufkin is a bigger market than Baytown?

Where do you read that McNeal threw more ints than TD's? Lufkin also plays in a heavy division with tough defenses, Longview and John Tyler/Tyler Lee are always equipped with some of the best defenses in the state.

He definitely started the season rough(Although, the team still only lost one game)

Houston Madison put 13 players on the 1st+2nd all-division teams, only a couple less that Lufkin. Vince Young had plenty of talent on his squad...

But, I don't think the team's talent was ever in question... On the preseason #1 thing, Lufkin was the preseason #1 because of Reggie McNeal. He is a leader, and steps it up 2 notches when it counts. All season long Lufkin did well, but not quite the team they were expected to be, especially after an early season loss to Shreveport Evangel. But in the playoffs, McNeal exploded.

Reggie won't have near the team Vince will have at UT, but I am convinced he can take them farther than they have been in a while.

Vincent Young has the numbers advantage, but IMO McNeal has the intangibles. He is a great guy with a hell of a future.

 

Reggie looked like the 3rd best qb in the Evangel game. Booty was awesome and some have said that Terrance Parks played better at B that game then Reggie.

I'm pretty sure Vincent had better playoff statistics than Reggie as well. I know he had a better game against Westlake than Reggie did.

Also, Baytown, to me is a small town. I really don't know if it's larger than Lufkin. But Reggie has received plenty of publicity.

 

He has a cannon for an arm. As mentioned, he's thrown some off balance, off the wrong foot, bombs. I saw one that looked effortless and traveled 60 yards in the air (unfortuneatly, it was out of bounds).

He doesn't look all that fast but it seemed the high school kids couldn't tackle him. I have a feeling he'll take a couple of good hits in the college level. Speaking of hits, I've seen him unload some mean ones when he lined up on the defensive side of the ball.

With the right coaching and a good weight program his future seems unlimited.


And I'm not a UT fan by any stretch of the imagination.

OS

 

Young had more talent on offense than McNeal did.

Lufkin's talent seemed to be mostly on the defensive side. They were the fastest defense I've ever seen from a HS team.

 

Vincent Young:
131-224 (59%) for 2,545 yards 35 TDs and 4 picks
Rush: 1,274 yards on 116 carries (11 ypc) for 24 TDs.
Total stats: 3,819 yards and 59 TDs
Preseason: Madison received ZERO VOTES in the AP rankings poll

Reggie McNeal:
133-305 (43% passing) 2385, 24 TDs, 11 picks
rush: 166-856 yds (5.15 ypc), 10 TDs
Total state: 3,241 yards and 34 TDS (in one more game)
Preaseason: DCTF ranked #1; #3 in preseason AP Poll

Young v. Westlake:
16-28 (57%)-1, 382 Yards , 5 TD
rush: 8-82 , 1 TD
Total 460 Yards and 6 TDs
(lost when Westlake had 650 yards of offense)

McNeal v. Westlake (1 week later):
6-19 (31%)-1, 223 Yards , 3 TD
rush: 17-157 , 1 TD
Total: 380 Yds and 4 TDs
(benefit of Div-I-A defender, Super Aggie Ju Park )
(Lufkin 'D held Westlake to 386 total yards

I was wrong about the int/td ratio of McNeals, very wrong. That being said, Young doesn't just have a "number's advantage," he kills Reggie. Also, everyone harps on Reggies performance against Westlake, check out Vince's. It looks like he rose to the occasion as well.

 

The Evangel Game-Possibly the worst game Reggie has played this year. Hell, I'll take it a step further, The worst since his sophomore season.

Parks is one hell of a player and should be a great starting QB/TE?WR or whatever his primary spot is next season, but on the year isn't even in the McNeal/Young league.

On Baytown/Lufkin, I didn't really mean the size of the towns, but rather Baytown's being a suburb of Houston. Anyway Baytown is about 70,000 and Lufkin about 33,000.

Again, Lufkin is in one of the toughest districts in the state. Every year we produce some of the toughest defenses in the state. And, if you don't think that that influenced stats, then you do not know high school football.

On the Westlake game, McNeal injured his ankle pretty badly on the first drive of the game. It really limited his play during the 2nd and 4th quarters, and to an extent in the 3rd.

IMO, the stats aren't as far apart as you indicate by your "he kills Reggie" statement.

Young seems to be the consensus #1, and he very well may be, but I definitely think that Reggie is not being given the proper respect. I guess only his play at A&M can earn him some.

 

I was thoroughly impressed with McNeal, especially against Westlake. I'm not saying one is better than another, I flatout don't know. What I do know is that they are both incredible athletes. If anything, I think you underrate Vincent.

As for the stats, yes, I think Vince kills Reggie here, although Reggie's are impressive and he did play in a tougher decision. Vincent has 11 more td's, 7 fewer int's, more rushing yards on fewer carries (vince averages 11 ypc, Reggie averages 5.5), his completion % is 14 points higher (57-43) and he accounted for 25 more td's in one fewer game. But, that being said, Reggie had a so-so game vs. Westlake, stats wise, but I was still VERY impressed with him. Just don't count out Mr. Young yet.

BTW, as for recognition. Reggie is in everyone's top 5 and was nominated for Natl. POY.

 

Highly possible...But, only because I haven't seen very much of him. Vincent Young could definitely be the best QB in HS football(In an Aggie column, someone went as far as saying the best Texas HS QB ever).

Young looks to be a great quarterback and should be ready to take Simm's spot as soon as Chris graduates, he might even take over the starting spot near the end of next season(Simm's senior season), if Simms can't continue his success. There will be 30 NFL teams trying to make space for him once he decides to leave Texas.

On Reggie's popularity, he is in the top 5 of most of the national recruiting sites/papers, but too often as an athlete or WR. The guy is a quarterback with abilities at other positions. He also isn't too popular with regular people, I have heard many dismiss him as overrated because of his early season performances.

 

There's another Young going into Austin, his name is Selvin Young. That guy had a great sophmore season. His junior year was injury ridden, and his senior year, I hear, he bounced back. UT is gonna have great running backs with Cedric Benson and Selvin Young, but I think he shoud redshirt his freshmen year, and get in the weight room some. He only goes about 195.