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One of Penn State's top remaining targets in the Class of 2019 kicked off his season last Saturday, as three-star running back Aaron Young and his Coatesville teammates earned a 37-6 victory over Harrisburg. Last season, Coatesville made it all the way to the PIAA Class 6A semifinals. The Red Raiders held a 28-10 lead over St. Joseph's Prep early in the second half but came up short in one of the season's most entertaining games, losing 53-49. While the loss certainly hurt, it gave Young and his fellow returnees all the motivation they needed during the off-season. "It felt great to get back out there," Young said. "We worked really hard this summer. We've had a lot to keep us motivated trying to avenge that St. Joe's loss. We knew we were really going to need some young guys to step up this year. We have some young re- ceivers who didn't play much last year. They stepped up a lot. Our line looked pretty good, too, so now we just have to keep improving. We can still get better at everything." Young finished the game with 83 yards rushing and one passing touchdown, which came late in the second quarter to put his team up 23-6 at the half. While he didn't put up the gaudy numbers that you sometimes see at this level, he did show- case his ability to consistently make some- thing out of nothing – a talent that has had schools pushing for his signature. Young is considering Penn State, Rutgers, Arkansas, Michigan State and Northwest- ern, but many believe that the Nittany Lions and Scarlet Knights have separated themselves from the pack. It looked as though the 5-foot-10, 197-pound Young was going to commit to one of those pro- grams in recent weeks, but he has since de- cided to take a step back and re-evaluate. "My original goal was to make a decision before my first game, but the closer I got to that, I just didn't feel like I was ready yet," he said. "There's no reason to rush it just because you wanted to have it over with. So I'm going to take my time with this. One thing I'm looking forward to doing is going to a few games and getting around some of the commits at each school." While nothing is set at the moment, Young said he has discussed taking an offi- cial visit to Penn State for the Lions' game against Ohio State in late September. "I FaceTimed with them a couple of times recently," he said. "When I do that, I usually talk to a couple of coaches, so I'm becoming more comfortable with them. Obviously, they've been asking a lot about where I am in the process, things like that. We've also been talking about when I'm going to get back there for a game. We've been talking about me possibly taking an official visit there. ... We'll see what happens." Young's brother Avery is a freshman de- fensive back at Rutgers this year. Aaron Young said that he's been speaking with both his brother and the Rutgers coaching staff regularly during the past month. "I've been close with everyone at Rutgers for a real long time. We probably talk every day," Young said. "I talk to my brother a lot, too. It's been good to get his take on every- thing. I know he's really happy with every- thing. He feels like he could get some playing time this season. But with the entire staff up there, we've been talking for a real long time now, so it's a comfortable feeling there." Last season, Young totaled more than 1,600 yards rushing and scored 31 touch- downs. Rivals.com considers him the No. 30 running back in the Class of 2019 and the No. 9 prospect in Pennsylvania. A U G U S T 2 9 , 2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 17 R Y A N   S N Y D E R | S N Y D E R 4 2 0 8 8 @ G M A I L . C O M R E C R U I T I N G Coatesville RB shines in season-opening victory CLASS OF 2019 NAME POS HT WT RATING HOME SCHOOL Hakeem Beamon DL 6-3 255 ★★★★ Chesterfield, Va. Lloyd C. Bird JaQuan Brisker DB 6-2 200 ★★★ Monroeville, Pa. Lackawanna College Lance Dixon LB 6-2 200 ★★★ West Bloomfield, Mich. West Bloomfield John Dunmore WR 6-3 170 ★★★★ Hollywood, Fla. Chaminade Madonna Keaton Ellis DB 6-0 160 ★★★ State College, Pa. State College Area Devyn Ford RB 5-11 195 ★★★★★ Stafford, Va. North Stafford Michael Johnson Jr. QB 6-3 202 ★★★★ Eugene, Ore. Sheldon Taquan Roberson QB 6-0 198 ★★★★ Wayne, N.J. DePaul Catholic Tyler Rudolph DB 6-1 205 ★★★★ Oakdale, Conn. St. Thomas More Emery Simmons WR 6-1 186 ★★★ Fayetteville, N.C. South View Brandon Smith LB 6-3 218 ★★★★ Mineral, Va. Louisa County Caedan Wallace OL 6-4 330 ★★★★ Princeton, N.J. Hun School Anthony Whigan OL 6-5 295 ★★★ Great Mills, Md. Lackawanna College Marquis Wilson DB 6-0 175 ★★★★ Windsor, Conn. Windsor Saleem Wormley OL 6-4 300 ★★★★ Smyrna, Del. Smyrna * As of Aug. 28 P E N N S T A T E C O M M I T M E N T S * C L A S S O F 2 0 1 9

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