Class of 2026 guard RJ Young turned heads in the spring and most recently last weekend while playing for the 15-under Arkansas Hawks, which led to Ole Miss extending a scholarship offer Tuesday.
Young, who will be a sophomore at Bryant High School this fall, was the first Hawk in his age division to score 30 points in three straight games last weekend at the Adidas Summer Championships in South Carolina.
Hawks 15-under Coach Terry Burgess, the father of consensus 4-star 2025 University of Arkansas target Terrion Burgess, said Young is a blur in the open court.
"He's hard to deal with in open court one-on-one because his ability to get downhill is some off the best I've seen for a kid his age," Burgess said. "So I make sure we get the ball out and let him do his thing in the open court. He's a handful."
Young, 6-3, 185 pounds, started all 31 games as a freshman at Bryant and averaged 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks per game while being named to the 6A-Central all-conference team.
He joins others from the 2026 in-state class with high-Division I offers, including Little Rock Christian's JJ Andrews, Maumelle's Jacob Lanier and Rogers' Aidan Chronister.
Burgess said Young has averaged about 26 points per game for the Hawks this spring and summer while relying on his strength of getting to the rim.
"That's his strength for now," Burgess said. "His jump shot has improved tremendously since he started with us in March. He can knock it down mid-range. He can hit the three-ball here or there, but he doesn't shoot the three-ball a lot.
"He relies on his mid-range and getting to the hole. That's his strength. We work on in the game his strength and work on his weakness in practice. He can shoot the ball. He's a great free-throw shooter. I think I had him down for 81% from the free-throw line. He probably averages eight points a game from the free-throw line."
Young, who also has a scholarship offer from the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, is more physically developed than most his age.
"He's super athletic," Burgess said. "He's well-put together. He plays through contact. That's the thing that makes him so dynamic when he gets downhill. He doesn't stop when the contact happens."
He joined the 17-under Arkansas Hawks in Las Vegas for the Ultimate Club Championship that was played Friday, Saturday and ends today. Young is very coachable, Burgess said.
"He doesn't give you any excuses," Burgess said. "Some of these kids now days, you tell them something and they have an excuse for why they didn't do it. But he's not that type of kid."
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com