Oak Ridge’s Young gets offer from Hurricanes

It’s been quite a football season for Oak Ridge 2021 safety Malachi Young, who ended his first year at the Orlando school with a scholarship offer from Miami on Tuesday.

“I’m extremely blessed and I got to give all the thanks to God because without him none of this would be possible,” Young said. “I was kind of surprised. I was like, `Whoa, Miami is looking at me? That’s crazy.’

“They were the home team, so it’s always excitement when they offer someone.”

Young had a good season during his first semester at Oak Ridge and obviously stood out on film. It was a tough season all the way around at Oak Ridge, which suffered eight losses and endured the ouster of head coach Clint Johnson.

“It was a difficult year because of dealing with the team and stuff,” Young said. “All the players, their emotions were everywhere.

“People felt like the season was over from the jump, and then the coach stepped down. So as a leader, it was kind of hard to bring the team back together.

“I just told them we still got to come out every Friday and produce like nothing ever happened because the other team isn’t going to show us any sympathy. We still have to give our all, so out of that we at least got two wins.”

After the season, Young got proactive with his recruiting process.

“I sent my film to a coach back in Broward [County], and he knew the recruiter [UM defensive coordinator Blake Baker] and he sent [Miami] my film,” Young said. “From there, it was on. He said he got off the phone with the DC and [Baker] wanted to offer me a scholarship.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound Young averaged about five tackles per game for the Pioneers, but he said football in Central Florida was a little different than what he experienced before.

“It’s like it was two different playing styles,” Young said. “In Broward, the playing style is more rugged, more fast-paced, more upscale.

“Coming to Orlando, it’s not like slow or anything, but it’s more like taking a step back. It was kind of hard moving at the beginning and to get the concept of the differences.”

Young wasn’t quite sure what to expect when he arrived at Oak Ridge, ready for football camp in early August. The South Florida native, who had attended Hollywood’s MacArthur High as a freshman and sophomore, moved from Broward to live with his father at the end of the summer. He was the new kid. “It was extremely hard,” Young said. “I think when I first came, players probably looked at me like, `Who is this kid?’

“They knew of me, but they probably didn’t know I could play as good as I could until after the first game. Then after the first game, everybody realized, `Oh, you can really play.’ ”

Young moved from Broward as a bit of an experiment, but he said he has liked what he’s seen so far.

“My dad moved up here like five years ago, and I just came up here to see how it felt, just to try it out,” Young said. “Everybody has treated me good — nothing but love.”

He said he expects to return to Oak Ridge for his senior season.

“That’s in the future, so it’s hard to say, but I think I’ll be returning to Oak Ridge,” Young said.

Athleticism runs in the Young family. His cousin, Kim Holt, is in the University of Miami Basketball Hall of Fame.

Young is not sure what to expect during the football recruiting process, but with a Miami offer he expects more attention.

“I think with Miami being my first offer, of course it will open up a bigger door for other schools to come look at me,” said Young, who carries a 3.1 GPA. “And just like I said earlier, I just got to give all my thanks to God.”

Young said he’ll most likely wait out the process until his senior year, during which he is also hopeful that he can graduate early.

“I’ll just wait until I am locked and loaded and getting ready to graduate and then … boom,” Young said.