Arizona Football: Scottie Young Jr. ready to lead the Wildcats defense in senior year
The Arizona Football coaches are busy recruiting, the team is taking finals moving into the holidays, and Scottie Young Jr. is starting to prepare for next season.
So far we have seen Arizona Football players like Chacho Ulloa and Day Day Coleman announce that they will be entering the transfer portal. However, you will not see any announcement like that from defensive back Scottie Young Jr. this off-season.
Instead, the senior-to-be will most likely return for his final season to hopefully make his greatest impact yet!
Arizona Wildcats
As it stands, Young Jr. is in the best spot possible at this juncture in his college career. Transferring doesn’t guarantee he will have the same status with a new team, also his numbers have been solid as he had a heck of season this year with 66 tackles, with 50 being solo and 16 being assisted to go along with one interception.
Since coming to Arizona, Scottie has been incredibly versatile, having played several positions for the Cats, lining up at linebacker, to free safety and safety.
This past season that versatility was on display as Young tied with Anthony Pandy to rank 3rd on the team for total tackles (66) behind Colin Schooler (98) and Tony Fields II (94). It was Young’s best season, yet although the team’s defense saw a change in Defensive Coordinators and firings of coaches. Two of his best games came under coach Chuck Cecil.
It was clear under Yates last game, there was confusion on the field about coverage assignments, but things got better and Young and his fellow teammates held ASU to only 24 points in their final game.
Note, that 24 points are about half of what Washington, USC and Stanford and ten less than Oregon and Utah who are playing for the Pac-12 Championship and are currently ranked No. 6 and No. 7 in the Nation.
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/6/2019.
| Tackles | Def Int | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Date | School | Opponent | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | TD | PD | ||
| 1 | 2019-08-24 | Arizona | @ | Hawaii | L | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 2019-09-07 | Arizona | Northern Arizona | W | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | 2019-09-14 | Arizona | Texas Tech | W | 5 | 1 | 6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | 2019-09-28 | Arizona | UCLA | W | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | 2019-10-05 | Arizona | @ | Colorado | W | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 2019-10-12 | Arizona | Washington | L | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 2019-10-19 | Arizona | @ | Southern California | L | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 2019-10-26 | Arizona | @ | Stanford | L | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 2019-11-02 | Arizona | Oregon State | L | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | 2019-11-16 | Arizona | @ | Oregon | L | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 2019-11-23 | Arizona | Utah | L | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | 2019-11-30 | Arizona | @ | Arizona State | L | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 Games | 50 | 16 | 66 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 3 |
Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 12/6/2019.
Going through the ordeal in the dorms as a freshman helped Young Jr. mature as a man, he has proven he has learned his lesson. His most trying season was last year as he played banged up all year-long with various injuries. This season, as a Junior, he wanted to prove he could have comeback season after a fantastic Freshman year and a challenging Sophomore year.
Of course this year was trying as well, with all the drama from coaches being fired to fighting on the sidelines, miscommunications, and more. However, Scottie stayed the course with a career year in tackles with 66, and 50 of those were solo! That’s 24 more than his stellar freshman year. Needless to say he was very productive as well as being named Captain for four games.
Scottie is a tireless worker, when he isn’t in Tucson, he still gets his grind on with AJ Sports and Fitness as well as D.C. Athletics in San Diego.
An uncle to adorable nieces and nephews, Young Jr. is a family man and along with football, he is very close to his family which gives him strength.
Fun Fact: He adores his mom as he has a tattoo of her middle name on his arm along with another tattoo stating “MY SISTERS PROTECTOR.”
Prior to committing to Arizona, Young Jr. had 14 offers. He didn’t take a visit to any school after he committed to the University of Arizona and Rich Rodriguez who brought the entire staff for a camp in San Diego to recruit him. Scottie really thought that was wonderful and he committed that same night and hasn’t wavered since.
Next. More on Arizona Football on ZZ.... dark
Everyone loves a comeback story. Everyone loves a great story about a freshman performing beyond expectations. Add to that a story about a guy who at some point got in trouble for something and turned it into a learning experience and then enhanced his career stats with his best season yet. The last chapter in Young Jr’s college career story should be a great one as he has the chance to be a senior leader and help the Wildcats put some wins on the board setting him up for the next level, the NFL.