Selvin Young Scouting Report

Selvin Young

Selvin Young, the 6-foot, 195-pound Jersey Village running back, is considered by many to be the top running back in the state of Texas as a senior.

What follows is a scouting report on Young compiled during Jersey Village’s game against College Station’s A&M Consolidated held on Sept. 27 at Pridgeon Field.

Selvin Young

Size, strength and durability: About the easiest way to describe Young’s compact build is that he looks physically like Marshall Faulk. His lower body is somewhat squatty and he has average length arms. He rarely gets hit square so his body should be fine long term. He has had a history of injury problems however, sitting out much of last year because of them. Still, he has the compact build that a lot of college running backs use to their advantage and he has a lot of natural strength in his leg drive through tackles. Grade: 7

Catching and blocking: Young receives advanced grades for his pass catching abilities. His team’s offense often runs four wide receivers and when they go to a five-wide set, he gets pushed out to the inside receiver spot. He catches the ball away from his body and had no problem fielding and returning kickoffs. His blocking needs improvement. Usually it’s just a single effort to block someone in pass protection and not a sustained one. Grade: 7

Vision, quickness and short-yardage running: His vision is very good. He runs to daylight, not to darkness. He’s patient enough to wait behind his blockers, then explode to the outside or cut it up inside on a stretch play. He also gets the tough yards in the middle of scrimmage. If he continues to get bigger and stays healthy, he’s a guy you can give the ball to 20-30 times a game. Makes people miss in the open field, but does it moreso with subtle moves as opposed to all out shake-and-bake stuff. He’s definitely an efficient runner in that regard. It looks like it comes naturally to him. Grade: 8

Acceleration and speed: He’s got it. Period. You want a back that can hit the whole in a flash if the situation calls for it, and that’s exactly the kind of talent that Young has. He can also be deadly around the corners. He’s not an elite sprinter, but he has excellent football speed. Grade: 10

Big Plays: The best high school running backs are the ones who can dominate games. Well, Young did not dominate the game against A&M Consolidated. However, he was easily Jersey Village’s lone serious offensive threat and made a pair of long runs on the outside and a couple up the middle that made you think he could pop one for a big gain at any time. Every time you thought Consolidated, who eventually won the game, had him corralled, he’d pop another one for a nice gain. And Consolidated definitely made Young the focus of their defensive efforts. Grade: 8

Cumulative Grade: 40 out 50 points

Young’s quickness to the whole, coinciding with his outstanding vision, makes him the best tailback that I’ve seen in the state of Texas so far this season.

He has a good feel for the running game, runs hard and it looks like he plays the game with a passion, which is always nice to see.

A lot of people like to compare his running style to that of Quentin Griffin, the former Aldine Nimitz mighty-mite who is now a starter at Oklahoma. But in actuality, Young runs more like former Texas A&M star Greg Hill did. Similar stocky build, yet a little taller. The comparison is mostly distinguished by being very quick to the whole, even on plays between the tackles.

Young is ranked the No. 9 running back nationally by Rivals100.com.