Defensive Player To Watch: Isheem Young

Isheem Young was widely characterized as a playmaker coming out of high school, which allowed him to initially commit to Penn State before eventually ending up in Ames. Then during a preseason press conference, Matt Campbell singled him out as a player that had shown significant improvement in the offseason. At that point, you knew Iowa State officially had something, and was just a matter of when he would arrive. Saturday night, he did.

Young finished the game with seven total tackles and the game ending interception. Young was an impact player all game long and also contributed with key pass coverage all night long. This is the type of play that I was expecting coming into this season. I still stand by what I said earlier in the year: Isheem Young will be the best safety to play at Iowa State, ever. I truly believe it.

This Saturday he is going to have to be big-time once again. Texas Tech is struggling this season and they just can’t seem to put together a win just yet. What better way to keep them on that track than with your defense and Isheem Young.

The Texas Tech wide receivers don’t seem to play well when they come up against people who can cover. They don’t get too physical and have shown in cases they can’t get themselves open. The Iowa State secondary really buttoned that up in the second half against Oklahoma and I look for more of the same here.

Keep your eyes on Isheem Young if you can, not only for this game, but for the rest of the season. You may just begin to see a star born.