Those who take football recruiting visits to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs are often overwhelmed by the beauty of the 18,000-acre campus at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
One cannot blame a person for immediately thinking that is the place to be. Orlando Christian Prep transfer Thomas Young tried to push the gorgeous backdrop out of his mind during his visit to the academy, but it wasn’t easy.
Ultimately, it would not matter. Everything else about Air Force checked off all he was looking for and he committed last weekend.
“It’s very beautiful … trees and mountains as far as you can see. It’s gorgeous,” Young said. “So that was definitely one of the factors, but the biggest things were the coaches. The head coach, Coach [Troy] Callahan and my personal coach, Coach [Nick] Toth …
“Sometimes coaches tell you only the best things about the school, but he told me the real truth, and he brought in players who could vouch for him. I could see that he is a very honest man that I would really enjoy playing for.”
The other thought that goes into committing to a service academy is the commitment being made to service, not just football. Young also took that into heavy consideration.
”It’s a really big thing to consider and obviously going to a military academy, there’s the five-year service after you’re done,” Young said. “But you have to take a look at it from a positive standpoint that it’s a five-year guaranteed employment, with some very good pay and some very good benefits.
“Also, you get to serve your country, as well, which I’m all for.”
Young, who is 6-foot, 180 pounds and No. 52 on the Sentinel’s 2025 Central Florida Super60, came over to OCP from Lake Nona, where he had 36 tackles and one interception last year. OCP coach Guershom Demosthenes is happy to have the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ocp-safety-thomas-young-headed-100800982.html
Author : Orlando Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-06-28 10:08:00
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