After two years of junior college basketball, he was signed to go to Nebraska but the Cornhuskers fired head coach Doc Sadler at the end of last season.
New coach Tim Miles hadn’t been hired yet when WSU coach Billy Donlon — following up on the legwork of Raiders’ assistant coach Chris Moore — headed to McLennan to look at another player there, a guard whom he decided “wasn’t a good fit for the program.”
In the process he noticed the bearded, 6-foot-6 Young, and his interest was piqued.
“I didn’t recruit him — that wouldn’t have been right because he’d already signed with Nebraska — but I also knew they hadn’t hired their new coach yet,” Donlon said. “I just told him, ‘If you ever open your recruiting again, we’d be interested.’ And later, after Coach Miles came in, the two parted ways for whatever reason and he got ahold of us.”
The biggest reason he came, Donlon said, was that Young’s mother came with him on his recruiting visit:
“She paid for her own ticket because she wanted to check us out. She saw the academic support we offer, the g.p.a. of our athletic department and our graduation rate and she liked that. And that really helped because it’s not always easy to get kids from a distance.”
Since then, it’s been a whirlwind adjustment for Young .
Take Wednesday night after WSU pushed aside Cleveland State, 69-53, at the Nutter Center. Now 12-4 – their best start since the 1989-90 season – the Raiders go on the road for four straight games , beginning with Loyola on Friday night.
Asked if he knew anything about those upcoming stops, Young got a blank look, then smiled briefly.
“Loyola, I know they’re in New York, right?” he said of the Chicago school.
Asked about Valparaiso and Youngstown State, he shook his head:
“Don’t know where they are.”
UIC, Green Bay, any of them?
“No, I don’t know what states they’re in, yet,” he said.
But, in truth, it doesn’t matter. He’s still new here and he’s not driving the team bus.
He’s here to ignite the team and, as Donlon put it after Wednesday’s game, “he was phenomenal.”
He finished with 23 points in 21 minutes. He was 8 for 11 from the field, had six rebounds, three steals and two assists. And he played solid defense both inside and out front.
“He can guard all five positions really well,” Donlon said. “That’s impossible to find. And then there’s that play at the end of the half. It was just clear out and drive as hard as you can.”
With 8.5 seconds left, Donlon called time out, set the play and then watched Young cut through the CSU defense to score the lay-up just before the halftime buzzer, get fouled and make the free throw. “He’s an elite athlete at any level,” Donlon said.
The only two Raiders who were similar in recent years, Donlon said, were Vaughn Duggins and Cory Cooperwood.
That the junior college transfer is still learning the lay of the land on the Horizon League map doesn’t matter to Donlon.
Jerran Young knows the one thing that matters most, the coach said:
“He really knows the court, and that’s the same wherever you go.”
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