Vince Young

Vincent Paul Young, Jr., better known as Vince Young, was born May 18, 1983 in Houston, Texas, in the United States of America. He is a college football quarterback for The University of Texas(UT) Longhorn football team. He is considered by many sports analysts to be one of the top contenders for the 2005 Heisman Trophy for the best offensive player in the nation.

High School

Young was coached by Ray Seals at Madison High School in Houston, Texas. He started at the position of quarterback for three of his years on the team, and accounted for 7,624 yards of offense during his career

Among the honors he received:

PARADE‘s and Student Sports’ National Player of the Year after accounting for 3,819 yards and 59 TDs as a senior
Named the 2001 Texas 5A Offensive Player of the Year
Listed as The Sporting News’s top High School prospect
Received the Pete Dawkins Trophy in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl

He was also a four-year letterwinner (20+ points per game career average) and two-time all-district performer in basketball as a guard/forward and a three-year letterwinner in Track and field who was a member of two district champion 400-meter relay squads. Young also played the outfield and pitched for the baseball team for two years.

College Football

Young committed to UT in 2002 and "red-shirted" rather than playing his first year. As a red-shirt freshamn in 2003, Young played in 12 games, seven as starting quarterback. He had a 6-1 won/loss record as a starter. As a sophomore in 2004, Young started every game and led the Longhorns to a 11-1 season record, the schools first ever victory in the Rose Bowl, and a top 5 final ranking. Young is considered a "dual/threat" quarterback since he has good capabilities both rushing and passing the ball. Young enters the 2005 season as on many lists of likely candidates to win the Heisman Trophy, including: Lindy's, The Detroit News and MSNBC

Career Accomplishments as of end of 2004 season

Among the career accomplishments Young has achieved at Texas:

Won/Loss record of 17-2 (89.5%) in his first two years as a starter - ranks him ninth on the UT all-time QB victory list
Completed 232-of-393 passes (59.0%) for 3,004 yards (No. 8 in UT history)
Passed for 18 TDs (T-No. 8 in UT history) while rushing for 2,077 yards (No. 1 on UT’s all-time QB rushing list/No. 14 on UT’s all-time list) and 25 TDs (No. 9 on UT’s all-time rushing TDs list/T-No. 1 among QBs)
Young's 5,081 yards of total offense are eighth-most on school record
Young has rushed and thrown for over 100 yards in the same game a UT-record five times in his career
He is the first player in UT history to register two career 400-yard total offense games
He is the only QB in UT history to rush for 100 yards in three or more games during a season and has done so in both his freshman and sophomore years
Young set a UT record for QBs with 192 rushing yards versus Michigan in the Rose Bowl
Young owns three of the top six single-game QB rushing performances in UT history (192 yards vs. Michigan as a Sophomore; 163 yards vs. Nebraska as a Freshman; 158 yards at Texas Tech as a Sophomore)
Young has five of the 10 longest runs by a QB in UT history
Young became the first player in UT history to pass and rush for 1,000 or more yards in the same season
Young became the first quarterback in UT history to have three 100-yard rushing games (vs. [[University of Oklahoma}Oklahoma]], at Baylor, vs. Nebraska) in the same season and is tied with Ricky Williams (1995) for the third-most 100-yard games by a freshman in school history

Accomplishments for a two-year starter

Young's 17 wins in 2003-2004 are the most ever by a UT QB in their first two years
Has the best-ever completion percentage by a UT QB in their first two seasons *43 TDs account ed for are the most-ever by a UT QB in their first two seasons

College Honors

Among the honors Young has recevied at Texas:

2004 - Honorable mention All-Big 12 honors
2005 Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player (at end of 2004 season)
2003 - Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year

Criticism of his Accomplishments

Although Young has achieved a certain standing in the UT record book, he has still fallen short of the expectations of some observers. He has been criticized as "great rusher...average passer" [1]. His passing style has been criticised as being a "side-arm" [2] style that does not take full advantage of his height (6 ft 5 in). Young has not managed to lead the Longhorns to defeat their neighboring state rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners. Also, he has not yet led the Longhorns to win or even play for the National Championship or even the Big 12 title.