One of the 10 best – and perhaps five best – players ever in the storied history of Chillicothe High School Hornets football officially opened the next phase of his still-promising gridiron career yesterday by becoming part of a national-champion collegiate program.
CHS senior Bryce Young, son of Karen and Brent Young, officially signed an NCAA letter-of-intent to accept a football scholarship from Northwest Missoui State University of Maryville.
Projected as a wide receiver there, he also was an All-State defensive back for CHS. He is expected to be red-shirted for the 2010 season.
"It was very stressful, actually,” the highly-sought Chillicothe standout admitted in a post-signing visit with the C-T.
“Along with that stress, though, there was a lot of fun. Getting letters from different universities that you read about in the papers and watch on ESPN. It was pretty exciting."
Having made game-day visits to Division I programs at Missouri, Minnesota, and Northern Iowa, as well as both a game-day and official visit to Northwest, Young settled on NWMSU.
"My top three teams, in the end, were Northwest, Mo-West (Missouri Western), and Mizzou,” he stated yesterday. “It just felt right going to Northwest.
Missouri did not offer Young a scholarship, but invited him to join its successful program on a walk-on basis, probably in their “preferred walk-on” category, but the opportunity for much, if not all, of his college education to be paid for certain understandally was a critical enticement that helped make NWMSU the pick for Young, who also is a stellar academic student.
In official post-signing comments, Northwest Bearcats head coach Mel Tjeerdsma, the most-successful postseason coach in NCAA Division II history with now three national championships to his credit, said of Young, “Bryce is …a great student and could end up being a presidential scholar.