PINE BLUFF -- Arkansas-Pine Bluff is two weeks into fall camp but isn't any closer to naming a starting quarterback than it was the day practices started.
At least Coach Monte Coleman's nerves have been eased a bit by knowing he will have plenty of talent surrounding whoever earns the starting job.
Willie Young glance
CLASS Junior
POSITION Wide receiver
HEIGHT 6-1
WEIGHT 185 pounds
HOMETOWN New Orleans
NOTEWORTHY Tied for first in the SWAC last season in receiving touchdowns (9), fifth in yards (727) and seventh in receptions (45). Led UAPB in all three categories. … Preseason first-team All-SWAC selection. … Caught 3 passes for 136 yards, including a 95-yard touchdown, in the 2012 SWAC championship game. … Caught 10 passes for 175 yards and 3 touchdowns in a victory over Mississippi Valley State last season.
Preseason All-Southwestern Athletic Conference member Brian Handley returns at running back and tight end looks solid with Kyle Coleman, a transfer from Arkansas State, but perhaps most importantly is the return of Willie Young, who is considered by some to be the best receiver in the SWAC.
"Those three can help take some pressure off the quarterback," Coleman said.
Young has become one of UAPB's most accomplished offensive players after bursting onto the scene in 2012, when he caught a 95-yard touchdown pass to force overtime in the Golden Lions' SWAC championship game victory over Jackson State.
He was one of a handful of Golden Lions players who missed all of the 2013 season after being ruled ineligible because of academic certification issues, but the New Orleans native came back last season and picked up where he left off in 2012 with nine touchdown receptions.
"I'm not trying to be cocky, but of course I feel like I'm the best," Young said of being named to the preseason All-SWAC team. "Confidence plays a big part in your play. If you're not confident, I feel like you're not going to succeed."
Not only can Young provide a reliable receiving threat for an inexperienced quarterback, but he serves as an example to other players who are dealing with adversity.
"Willie is a great kid," Coleman said. "He's now the type of kid you would go out and recruit and bring into your program, because I think he's learned from his mistakes."
Young's career started well three seasons ago. He played sparingly behind a group of veteran receivers but was called on at times as a big-play threat. He caught eight passes as a freshman in 2012, averaging 39.1 yards per catch, and scored three touchdowns.
One of those came in the SWAC title game. With time running out and UAPB backed up on its own 5, Ben Anderson found Young streaking down the middle of the field behind a Jackson State defender. The touchdown tied the game with 37 seconds remaining, and UAPB won on a field goal in overtime to earn its first outright SWAC title.
"I have flashbacks of it," said Young, cracking a wide smile following Tuesday's practice.
But Young didn't get a chance to follow it up in 2012.
After being ruled ineligible for 2013 along with a handful of others, he watched as UAPB limped to a 2-9 season. Young had to sit helplessly in the stands alongside other students during home games that season.
"It was odd," Young said. "Everybody was asking me why I wasn't on the field, and I kept having to explain it to them over and over."
Coleman said he never feared Young would transfer to another school where he might have been eligible to play. Young said he never thought about it either. His focus was on returning to finish what he started.
"What kept me here is the love for the team and the love for the coaches," he said. "My coaching staff really believed in what I could do. I didn't want to go Division II. I just felt like I should stay here and get into the classroom and come back out here and perfect my craft."
Young began to do that last season.
Even though UAPB struggled to another losing season, finishing 4-7, Young caught 45 passes for 727 yards and 9 touchdowns. His average of 16.2 yards per catch led the conference, and his nine touchdowns tied for best in the league.
Coleman said Young's resurgence was reminiscent of former UAPB receiver Raymond Webber, who missed half of the 2008 season after being dismissed from school because of an on-campus fight, only to return in 2009 and eventually set UAPB's single-season record for catches with 101 in 2010.
"It would be great if he comes back and catches 101 balls. I wouldn't be mad at him," Coleman said. "Ray worked extremely hard when he as out, and Willie is in that same mold."
Young said he has spoken with Webber some about the roadblocks each of them faced and called him a "big role model." But Young said he would prefer that his second chance end with another championship over lofty individual statistics.
"That's the ultimate goal," he said. "I know what it was like to win it 2012. I feel like we can do it again."
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Sports on 08/19/2015