Dream come true for Young

Landon Young had dreamed about playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl for years. His dream was one shared by scores of other high school football players. Only his was different because it came true.

He spoke with Cats Illustrated about the experience after he returned home to finish one more semester of high school at Lexington (Ky.) Lafayette.

Young is in the running for a fifth star and the recruiting-watchers of the world will find out whether he gets it on Monday, when the last round of ranking releases begins.

Whether he's a five-star or not, he validated himself against many of the nation's best players at the Army Bowl in San Antonio. Young was praised by analysts as a specimen with enormous potential, which is something Kentucky's coaches have known for some time.

"It was awesome," Young said of his experience at the game. "It was like a dream come true because like I've told everybody, it's been my goal ever since my freshman year when I learned about the game. When I acted it out and got to go participate in it, it was just awesome."

Young said he felt a little more confident at the Army Bowl than at some previous recruiting events, such as the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge in Baltimore or The Opening.

"It really helped a lot with our high school making it to the state championship," Young said. "It gave me the extra weeks of practice that I needed. Besides, with me having my surgery and the time after that, getting time to do drills and conditioning let me prepare a little bit more. Then just knowing the kind of high level talent I'd face in that game, that helped a lot. Going out there I had a better idea of what I'd actually face."

Young was joined by fellow Kentucky commitments Drake Jackson and Kash Daniel at the game. Those two have already enrolled at Kentucky. They weren't able to watch each other too much at the practices and in the game, because they were each so focused on their own responsibilities and assignments.

But Young did his best to keep up with how Jackson and Daniel were doing.

"From what I've seen from videos that have been posted I feel like they both had standout games as well," Young said. "That was the real goal before the game. We talked about how Kentucky never gets a good name in any of these things so we've got to put on for the blue and white and tell everybody what's in store for us."

Rivals.com National Director of Recruiting Mike Farrell told Cats Illustrated that Young was the best offensive lineman on the West team, and the fact that he's at least in the conversation for the next batch of five stars is a sign that he greatly impressed in Texas.

"Just being patient would be the biggest thing that I've improved on," Young said. "Especially during one on ones during camps, against guys like Jonathon Cooper at the Columbus regional. He came out with all his speed and I would try to lunge out to try to get him first. But I had to learn to wait and let him come to me. Let him do his thing, let him show what he had to offer, and just be patient. I had to realize it's just that kind of a process."

The Kentucky coaches were following Young's time in San Antonio closely.

"They loved it," Young said. "I talked to Coach (John) Schlarman a lot about it. I talked to Coach (Mark) Stoops, Coach (Eddie) Gran and Coach (Darin) Hinshaw and they were all really impressed by my showing and the other Kentucky boys. They just said they're excited for us coming up and what the next couple of years have in store."

Although Young isn't enrolling early like his future teammates Jackson and Young he said he will be frequently on UK's campus, especially with the two of them up there.