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Vince Young

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File:Vince-Young-sports-illustrated-2005-cover.jpg
2005 Sports Illustrated cover featuring Vince Young.

Vincent Paul Young, Jr., commonly Vince or "VY", (born May 18, 1983 in Houston, Texas) is a dual-threat college football quarterback for the University of Texas Longhorns. He was one of three finalists for the 2005 Heisman Trophy, finishing second to Reggie Bush in the final vote. Young led his team to a victory in the BCS National Championship Game on January 4, 2006, in a classic thriller against the two-time defending champions University of Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl Game.

On January 8, 2006, Young declared he would forego his last year of NCAA eligibility and enter the 2006 NFL Draft. This decision makes him the second player in Mack Brown's eight year term as head coach of the Texas Longhorns to to enter the NFL with eligibility remaining.[1]

Personal

Young was primarily raised by his mother and his grandmother. His father, Vincent Young Sr., is currently serving a 16 year sentence for burglary. Young credits his mother and grandmother for keeping him away from the street gangs he briefly flirted with in his early adolescence. At the age of 7, Young was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle on a Houston street. The accident nearly killed him and left him hospitalized for months. Today, he credits this event for making him into a tougher person.

High school career

Young was coached by Ray Seals at Madison High School in Houston, Texas. He started at quarterback for three years, and compiled 7,624 yards of total offense during his career.

Among the honors he received:

He was also a varsity athlete in numerous other sports. He was a four-year letter winner (20+ points per game career average) and two-time all-district performer in basketball as a guard/forward, a three-year letterwinner in track and field and member of two district champion 400-meter relay squads, and an outfielder and pitcher for the baseball team for two years.

College career

File:Sports Illustrated cover 2006-01-09 Texas Longhorns Vince Young.jpg
Vince Young scores a touchdown to help the Longhorns win the National Championship over the USC Trojans.

Young signed with Texas in 2002 and redshirted rather than playing his first year. As a redshirt freshman in 2003, Young played in 12 games, including seven as the Longhorns' starting quarterback. He had a 6-1 record as a starter.

As a sophomore in 2004, Young started every game and led the Longhorns to a 11-1 season record, a top 5 final ranking, and the school's first-ever appearance and victory in the Rose Bowl against the University of Michigan.

In the 2005 regular season, Young led the Longhorns to a 11-0 record. The Longhorns held a #2 ranking in the preseason, and held that ranking through the season except for one week when they were ranked #1 in the Bowl Championship Series.[2]. Texas then won the Big 12 championship game and still held their #2 BCS ranking, which earned them a berth in the National Championship Rose Bowl game against the USC Trojans. Before the game, the USC Trojans were being discussed on ESPN and other media outlets as possibly the greatest college football team of all time. Riding a 34 game winning streak, including two consecutive National Championships (one AP, one BCS), USC featured two Heisman Trophy winners in the backfield, including quarterback [[[Matt Leinart]] (2004 Heisman winner) and running back Reggie Bush (2005 Heisman winner) who was widely discussed as being possibly the best running back in the history of college football.

In the Rose Bowl, Vince Young put on one of the most dominating individual performances in college football history, accounting for 467 yards of total offense (200 rushing, 267 passing) and three rushing touchdowns (including a 9 yard TD scramble with 19 seconds left) to lead the Longhorns to a thrilling 41-38 victory. This performance led him to winning Rose Bowl MVP honors for the second consecutive season. After the game, former USC and NFL safety Ronnie Lott said "Vince Young is the greatest quarterback to ever play college football".

Early in his collegiate career, Vince Young had been criticized as "great rusher...average passer", and his unconventional throwing motion had been criticised as being "side-arm"[3] as opposed to the conventional "over the top" throwing motion typically used by college quarterbacks. However, by the 2005 season most of the criticism had faded, and he developed into a consistent and precise passer. Young finished the 2005 season as the #3 rated passer in the nation, with a quarterback rating of 163.9. [4]

Career accomplishments

File:Si cover 2005 college football preview vince young.jpg
Sports Illustrated cover featuring Vince Young.
  • Vince is the first and only player in NCAA I-A history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.
  • Win/loss record as a starter of 30-2 as of January 5, 2006, ranking him #1 of all UT quarterbacks by number of wins. His .938 winning percentage as a starting quarterback ranks sixth best in Division I history.
  • Vince’s career passing completion percentage is the best in UT history, 60.8%.
  • Passed for 40 TDs (No. 4 in UT history) while rushing for 2,851 yards (No. 1 on UT’s all-time QB rushing list/No. 7 on UT’s all-time list) and 33 TDs (No. 5 on UT’s all-time rushing TDs list/T-No. 1 among QBs)
  • Young's 9,167 yards of total offense is a school record
  • Young has rushed and thrown for over 100 yards in the same game a UT-record five times in his career
  • Along with Chris Simms and Major Applewhite, Vince is one of three UT players to accumulate 400 or more yards of total offense in a single game, a feat he has accomplished three times
  • Set a UT record for total offensive yards in a game, with 506 yards against Oklahoma State on October 29, 2005
  • He is the only QB in UT history to rush for 100 yards in three or more games during a season and has done so in his freshman, sophomore years, and junior years.
  • Young set the UT single-game completion percentage record against Oklahoma State in 2004 by completing 18 of 21 passes (85.7%). He broke his own record in 2005 by completing 25 of 29 passes (86.2%) against Colorado.
  • Young set the UT single-game record for rushing yards by a QB with 192 versus Michigan in the Rose Bowl. He broke his own record in 2005 by rushing for 267 yards against Oklahoma State.
  • Young owns five of the top seven single-game QB rushing performances in UT history: 267 yards vs Oklahoma State as a Junior; 200 yards vs Southern California as a Junior; 192 yards vs. Michigan as a Sophomore; 163 yards vs. Nebraska as a Freshman; 158 yards at Texas Tech as a Sophomore
  • Young has six of the top 8 longest runs by a QB in UT history
  • Young became the first player in UT history to pass and rush for 1,000 or more yards in the same season
  • Young became the first quarterback in UT history to have three 100-yard rushing games (vs. Oklahoma, at Baylor, vs. Nebraska) in the same season and is tied with Ricky Williams (1995) for the third-most 100-yard games by a freshman in school history.
  • Young's 17 wins in 2003-2004 are the most ever by a UT QB in their first two years
  • 43 TDs accounted for are the most-ever by a UT QB in their first two seasons
  • Is a two-time winner of the Rose Bowl MVP award, joining Ron Dayne, Bob Schloredt, and Charles White as the only two-time winners.
  • In the 2006 NCAA national championship game, he completed 30 of 40 passes for 267 yards and carried the ball 19 times for 200 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. He was named Rose Bowl MVP for the second time in his career. UT beat USC by the score of 41 to 38 and Vince Young ran in the winning touchdown. In this game, UT ended USC's 34-game win streak. Young's 467 total yards set a new Rose Bowl record.

Because of these accomplishments, many commentators consider him the best quarterback in UT history.

College honors

Entering NFL Draft

Throughout the 2005 season Young had indicated that he planned to return to the University of Texas for his senior year in 2006[5],[6]. The day after Texas won the BCS National Championship, Young accepted an invitation to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When Leno asked Young whether he would stay for his senior year of college or declare for the 2006 NFL Draft, Young replied that he would discuss the matter with his pastor, his family and coach Mack Brown. On January 8, 2006, Young announced he would enter the NFL draft, where he is expected to be drafted early in the first round.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ The only other player to leave the team for the purposes of entering the NFL draft with eligibility remaining during Brown's tenure was Kwame Cavil. Cavil was suspended from the team prior to the bowl game in his junior year, for "violation of team rules". The nature of the violation was not specified by Brown, Cavil, or the university. It is uncertain if Cavil would have been welcomed back to the team for his senior season if he had not left early. Cavil subsequently went undrafted. Texas' Cavil puts name into NFL hat Sports Illustrated January 7, 2000
  2. ^ Veyhl, Jake. Longhorns No. 1 for First Time in BCS The Daily Texan. October 25, 2005.
  3. ^ Brown, Chip. In-Vince-ible Athlon Sports. August 8, 2005.
  4. ^ Division I-A National Player Report Passing Efficiency NCAA.
  5. ^ Vince Young: 'I plan on coming back' Dallas Morning News October 252005.
  6. ^ Veyhl, Jake. Longhorns No. 1 for First Time in BCS The Daily Texan. October 25, 2005.
  7. ^ Vince Young to leave Texas, enter NFL Draft USA Today. January 8, 2006. Accessed January 8, 2006.
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