Southeast Missourian football player of the year: Cape Central's Al Young

Some players wait for the ball to come to them, and some go and get it.

Al Young is most definitely the latter.

No one's really sure how many times the Central junior has used his 34-inch vertical to rise above the reach of his opponents before crashing to the ground. There's always a brief moment of hesitation before the referee throws both arms into the air to signal a touchdown.

Most spectators are left in awe, but for Young, it's just business as usual.

"I know nobody can out-jump him, so once you throw it up, he'll go get it," Central senior Jalen Reddin said. "All you've got to do is tell him to go get it, and he'll jump and go get it, like [Detroit Lions wide receiver] Calvin Johnson."

The 6-foot Young doesn't quite possess the size of Johnson, who towers over his defenders at 6-5, but it's the way he plays the game that draws such comparisons.

"On some shorter balls if you throw it underneath, he'll time it perfectly where he can elevate and kind of climb over them to reach over them and grab the ball," Central senior quarterback Peyton Montgomery said. "He just reads the body language of the defender, so he knows if he's going to have to jump where they jump. Of course, he's athletic and can jump higher than them, so that helps, too. He's smart about knowing the timing of the jump. He has kind of a sixth sense on that."

Young amassed 1,446 yards from scrimmage and 25 touchdowns on 122 touches last season, proving his breakout performance as a sophomore wasn't just a flash in the pan.

He holds single-season school records in touchdowns (30), receiving touchdowns (13), points scored (184), interceptions (8); and career school records in receiving touchdowns (24), receiving yards (1,865), yards per catch (25.5), total touchdowns (53) and points scored (322).

More importantly, Central made history in 2014. The Tigers went where no other team donning orange and black from Cape Girardeau had ever gone before -- the state championship game.

And none of it would have been possible without Young, who's Southeast Missourian Football Player of the Year.

"We talk with these kids all the time about having good attitude and effort, and Al's just the prime example of that. And that's what's made him become such a reliable player for us," Central coach Nathan Norman said. "He leads by example, and I think the rest of the team sees that."

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2014 All-Missourian - Al Young - Cape Central High School (Laura Simon)

Young began playing football in elementary school. He switched between quarterback and running back from third grade through sixth until solidifying his roots as a running back in seventh grade. He admits it took time for the sport to grow on him.

"I didn't really like football all that much, but all my friends all did it. So they made me do it. My eighth grade year, I just started loving it," Young said. "I just knew I could become a great athlete if I just kept playing and stayed motivated."

His first varsity experience came as a kick returner during a game against Sikeston his freshman year.

"I was No. 20. As soon as the game started, they kicked the ball off to me. You could tell it was my first varsity game because I caught the ball at the 10-yard line and they drug me all the way back to the end zone," Young said. "That's when coach was like, 'You've got to be ready at any time.' Every time at practice, I was ready then."

Heading into his sophomore season, the Tigers' coaching staff was determined to find a way to get Young more involved in the offense.

Central's backfield was already crowded with experienced players, so Norman had another idea.

"I couldn't play running back because Mikey [Jones] was there, and then we had another running back, Braion [Owens]. So I was basically third string," Young said. "He didn't want to put me in there, so he said, 'I've got to work you into the offense.' He said, 'Would receiver be good with you?' And I was like, 'I'll do anything just to play,' so they worked me in at receiver. At first, I didn't know any of the routes. I kind of just freestyled it."

Norman said depth was the biggest issue with trying to incorporate Young into the offense.

"We knew he was a special player, but we had Mikey back there. ... We knew he was a freak," Norman said about Young. "He was a special player and had all those intangibles that you just can't coach, but hey, I'm glad we moved him to receiver because it paid off for us."

In the Tigers' first game of the season, Young finished with one reception for 24 yards and three carries for 6 yards in a 28-7 loss to John Burroughs. It was a modest effort from a sophomore still trying to adjust to playing varsity football, but on Sept. 6, 2013, Young gave the Central coaching staff more than just a glimpse of his potential.

"That's when coach sat me down and talked with me. We went through the playbook like 30 times," Young said. "I just learned the routes, and it started clicking from there."

The Tigers fell 40-38 against host St. Charles West, but Young finished with three receptions for 130 yards and two scores, as well as seven carries for 14 yards and a score.

Young went on to finish his sophomore season with 40 receptions for 1,227 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 30.7 yards per catch. The Tigers went 9-5 and marched all the way to the doorstep of the Class 4 title game, where they dropped a 46-0 decision to eventual state champion Webb City in the semifinals.

The loss motivated the Tigers to pick themselves up and try again.

"As soon as that game ended, we felt like we had a chip on our shoulder, so every time we got in the weight room, we hit it hard," Young said. "Every time we got on the practice field, we hit it yard this year, and we made the younger kids buy in because the younger kids had to know that some of them might have to step up."

Dennis Vinson was the Tigers' senior quarterback that season. Young said Vinson taught him to grow up and be more mature.

"They always said that I was childish. I acted like a little kid sometimes, and he said, 'Now that you're on varsity, you've got to grow up and be smart. You've got to be smarter than the person that's guarding you.' And he taught me that," Young said about Vinson. "I just took that and ran with it."

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2014 All-Missourian - Al Young - Cape Central High School (Laura Simon)

Young began his junior campaign with 96 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a 44-34 road win over Vashon. The Tigers followed it up with a 41-21 victory at home over St. Charles West, during which Young amassed a whopping 278 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns.

Central improved to 3-0 with a 47-7 home win over Sikeston, and Young had three touchdown receptions and a school-record 81-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Young had a 52-yard punt return for a touchdown and scored on a 15-yard run in a road game the following week against Poplar Bluff. The Tigers defeated the Mules 26-6, but Young struggled against a physical Poplar Bluff defense.

"I would always go out for a route, and I'd have a kid just hit me every time," Young said about the game. "There were like two kids that would just come at me and put their helmets down and hit me every time. I hated it. It was hard to get me going. One kid hit me so hard in my wrist, and I was like, 'Man, coach, I can't run out there like that.'"

It was symbolic of a recurring theme for the Tigers. Opponents keyed in on Young throughout the season, often double- and even sometimes triple-teaming him in an attempt to shut him down.

Norman said it presented more of a challenge for his coaching staff than anyone.

"We just had to find a way to get him the ball and had to get more creative with our play-calling," Norman said. "It helped that we were able to run the ball so well late in the season, but he was so good as a sophomore that we knew teams were going to focus in on him and try to take him out of the game. ... We're going to have to continue to be creative next year in finding ways to get him the ball."

The Tigers' preparation began with an 11-man drill in practice, where two or three players defended Young.

"We knew coming into this year that a lot of teams were going to do that. ... Coach would say, 'Fight with it, and get open,'" Young said. "He'd tell Peyton to throw it up and tell me to go get it and find some way to come down with it. That's how I deal with it. I just look at it that if they double-team me, somebody else will be open, too."

After squandering a 16-point halftime lead in a 32-22 road loss to Ladue Horton Watkins, the Tigers bounced back with a solid performance against conference rival Jackson.

Young hauled in an impressive 33-yard touchdown reception in the final seconds of the third quarter to give Central a two-score lead. He added a 40-yard interception return for a score in the final quarter to secure the Tigers' 31-21 win.

Reddin said Young became a better player by approaching the game differently.

"Last year, he wanted to make the big play and he wanted the ball, so this year, he let the game just come to him," Reddin said. "Whenever he was open, Peyton threw it to him, and he made the big plays that we needed."

Central went on to claim its first outright conference title in more than 10 years and wrapped up the regular season with a 7-2 record.

After steamrolling De Soto and Sikeston in the first two rounds of the playoffs by a combined score of 105-21, Central encountered a tough test against Hillsboro in the district championship game.

Young began the game with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and Central survived a back-and-forth affair with the Hawks. Young finished with 153 yards on three receptions, including a 49-yard pass from Montgomery in the third quarter.

Montgomery entered the season as a transfer from Chaffee and worked to develop comfortability with the new system. He said Young's presence expedited that process tremendously.

"It was huge in the playoffs because there were a lot of times they did single coverage, and you knew if you threw a decent ball to Al, he was going to catch it," Montgomery said. "That makes your job so much easier, and when you're under center, you don't have to worry about a lot of things, really. You just have to get your footwork down, drop back there and throw it to Al. That puts so much confidence in me. When anyone has single coverage on Al, it's a wrap. There's nothing you can do, really, unless you put a safety over top, but I've still seen him go up with two or three people. He's amazing. He's an exciting player."

The Tigers went on to defeat Affton 34-14 in the state quarterfinals, putting them in familiar territory.

Young had a 33-yard touchdown catch and an 18-yard interception return for a touchdown the following week, when Central advanced to its first state title game in school history with a 42-21 win over host St. Charles West.

Facing a nationally-ranked Webb City team for the second straight season, the Tigers never backed down from the moment. In fact, Central raced out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, during which Young intercepted a tipped pass and wiggled his way through Webb City players on his way to a touchdown.

However, the return was called back for an illegal block.

"That broke my heart when they called it back because that was the best play I think I had all year," Young said.

Central was unable to sustain offense against Webb City. Young finished with only three receptions for 9 yards and battled a wrist injury throughout the game. Webb City went on to win 48-21, but Young made his presence felt on defense, where he finished with a pair of interceptions.

He totaled 35 tackles and a team-high eight interceptions on the season as a junior.

"He stepped up a lot this year. He didn't want to play defense this year," said Reddin, who led the Tigers' defense in total tackles. "Once we started getting it through to him that defense is the key to winning games, he started realizing that he needed to help his team on defense."

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Young credits Norman and assistant coaches Tim McGuire and Bobby Haggerty for his development on the field.

"They stay on me hard, and they make sure that if I'm going to be a good receiver or a good athlete, then I need to get my teammates involved, be a leader, stay positive, never hang your head when something bad happens, just make sure you do what you need to do to help your team win," Young said.

Young also said Norman's philosophy in the weight room has added a new element to his game.

"We'll be in weight class, and he'll just stand by me the whole time," Young said. "He don't really worry about the other kids. He's on me super hard. He thinks I can do more. He wants me to do more, and I just do anything to make him happy. ... I look up to Norman a lot because he knows what it takes to get there. Everything he does and says, I listen to it real tight. I usually didn't hit the weights. I hated hitting the weights, and he was like, 'If you want to get better and stronger, you've got to hit the weights.' I just look at Norman and think, 'Yeah, he knows what it takes to get there.'"

Young is drawing interest from a number of Division I schools, including Missouri, Purdue, Nebraska, Oregon and Michigan State.

So with one more year to go, where's the ceiling for a player like Young?

"The sky's the limit for him," Montgomery said. "There's really no limit for him. If he keeps working hard and just keeps learning, then there's no limit with what he can do.

"He's the best athlete I've ever seen in person."