Bearcats senior wide receiver Michael Young, Jr. is embracing his new role as a veteran leader within the Bearcats wide receiver room. The senior receiver is taking on the new role as a leader in the locker room as many of the freshman and younger core of receivers know what his background of knowledge is as he has had a lot of success to this day in his college career. Young, Jr. started his career at Notre Dame University before transferring to Cincinnati in 2020. Young, Jr. played in some big games before he made the transfer from Notre Dame to Cincinnati, many people knew what he was capable of doing on the field. Young, Jr. was a highly touted three star recruit coming out of high school who held nearly 25 offers from schools around the country, he has found his home here in Clifton. Leading the Bearcats in receptions in 2020 where he caught 29 passes for 332 yards, three touchdowns.
The media was able to catch up with the senior wide receiver after the Spring Game a few weeks ago and when asked how he is embracing the veteran role in the receiving room when it comes to helping the younger class-men, who had a strong showing in the Spring Game whether it was receivers Tyler Scott, Will Pauling, Jadon Thompson, Jordan Jones and many more. He gave huge credit to those guys, as he said, “when it comes to those guys development, those guys aren’t scared to ask questions whether it’s on the field or in meeting rooms and praises how they always ask questions about certain plays, routes or in general”. He also gave credit to the younger guys when it comes to taking accountability and mentioned how the younger class-men approach him to see what they can do better and try to perfect their craft. Young, Jr. also said that this core of young receivers in the Bearcats wide receiver room are some of the most talented players he has ever seen and knows their potential is going to keep growing as they continuing to develop at the college level. The senior is taking tremendous pride in the new role as he has only been on campus for about a year himself and thinks it’s incredible that they want to pick his brain and try to get as much input as they can to try to get better. That’s what makes the Bearcats wide receiving core so talented as the veterans in Alec Pierce, Jordan Jones, Young, Jr. and Tre Tucker have all had fantastic careers up to date and they look to play a huge role when it comes to being a leader for the younger class-men.
He will play a tremendous role for incoming the younger class-men in the locker room as he has played with two Top 10 programs over the last two years, he has played with some very talented players over that time span. Young, Jr. will play a big part for the Bearcats offense this year as he has seemed to transition from the outside to the slot at times from what I have noticed this Spring. He won’t only be threat outside, but now on the in the slot he will be a threat to create space and cause a miss match for the Bearcats heavily loaded offense whether it’s the tight ends, receivers making plays, but also when it comes to the run game as Young has a great sense of knowledge when it comes to the game and will do whatever it takes for his team to be successful as he is a very unselfish player and that’s the kind of player you want on your team.
The Notre Dame transfer is looking to have big senior season in 2021. He is also looking forward to the opportunity to play against his former team and coach Marcus Freeman when the team makes the trip to South Bend, Indiana to take on Notre Dame.
