Usama is Ready for the NFL
4/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
KENT, Ohio - Monday morning Usama Young visited with the Kent State Golden Flashes' Media as he was all smiles, in anticipation for the 2007 NFL Draft which will be held this Saturday and Sunday (April 28-29). Young, who has been projected to be drafted as early as the late second round to early third round, was a four-year letter winner at Kent State playing corner back for the Golden Flashes.
Young has been through multiple workouts with many teams in expectation of being the first Golden Flash drafted to the NFL since tight end Jason Gavadza was drafted in the 2000 draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gavadza was taken in the sixth round with the 204th overall pick.
Young finished his career at
Usama Young Press Conference
Usama, it has been about a month since the last time we spoke and you weren't too nervous. But here we are about a week away, is it starting sink in now?
Exactly, it is sinking in. I can't wait until this is all over, that's in a good way. I am looking forward to playing at the next level, and looking forward just to get a chance at playing at the next level.
Can you just talk about these past couple weeks?
It has been hectic and at the same time it has been fun. But it has been a busy fun. A lot of teams have been calling and I've been traveling the last couple weeks trying to keep up the same work effort every time. I've been traveling from place to place, going from the west coast back east. Every time I get into a hotel the first thing I do is lie down and rest up.
What has been your favorite city so far?
You have worked out for ten teams already; you have three more coming in tomorrow. Has that been a challenge? Or does it just create more motivation for you to keep working hard?
It is definitely a challenge. When you are doing a workout you have every coach watching every step you take. They listen to every catch you make to see if you have soft hands. There is a lot of pressure, but I keep reminding myself that this is the game I have been playing for years. And usually when I am working out
Were you at all disappointed that you weren't invited to the combine.
When I learned that they had already picked everyone who was going to be invited, I was disappointed. But I knew I had to get over it because I had to perform, so I had to get over it and it just fueled my workouts. I thought of it as though, the committee that invited those players, invited them because they had to have seen something in them that they didn't see in me. So I took it as it's my time to prove to them that I should have been there.
Was this a dream that you had early on in High School? Or was there a point where you thought you would chase this?
As I was coming up it was always a dream, and surely but slowly it turned into a goal. Now, I'm just trying to reach that goal. I never gave up on it; I can't say there was a certain time when I pinpointed it as a goal. But throughout my whole career I just wanted to get there. I still want to get there.
What are you going to do for the draft?
I just talked to the strength coach; I am going to be in the weight room. Go get some food. Go back, do some running. It is a long process, and since I am traveling five days a week, I had to turn Saturdays and Sundays into workout days and get the most out of it. Maybe even get a two-a-day in on Saturday. I just know that whatever team I get selected to, the worst thing I would do is go in out of shape.
Have you heard any projection from anybody yet?
I just hear speculation; you get online and see the mock drafts and stuff. I get calls from my brother, which get me into it. At first I stayed away from it all, I didn't visit the websites, I didn't read the magazines. But I would get an email with a forwarded URL attached and open it up, look and think this is tight. But it all comes down to what the team wants. They may not want to draft a lot of DB's early on and I might not go till the later rounds. Hopefully, I am a first day selection but you never know.
You are leaving the program at a great time. What is like knowing that you helped build this going in the right direction?
It means a lot I can't wait to see how they do next year. I know I will be going through another season, but at the same time I want them to be successful. Every year we were here, our goal was to turn around the program, and last year we came close but we didn't finish it. But that is what I want these guys to do. I'm staying on different guys cases and still calling them up. The off-season is what counts; a lot of people overlook it. The success of a season lies within the off-season.
