The fruits of this past weekend’s Irish Invasion brought forth our first commit as Lufkin, Texas running back Kedren Young pledged to Notre Dame. We are now up to 18 commits in this current recruiting class. The Deep East Texas tailback is coming off a junior season in which he totaled 1,751 rushing yards at 7.39 yards per carry with 19 touchdowns.
I am blessed to be in this position after a tough ride. I want to thank all of the coaches that have recruited me. I truly appreciate the love y’all have shown me and my family. After an great visit, I am extremely blessed to say I have committed to the University of Notre Dame! pic.twitter.com/XAlvMxP8tu
— Kedren Young (@KedrenY) June 6, 2023
Young was scheduled to visit TCU and Texas A&M later this month but shut things down to join Notre Dame’s 2024 recruiting class.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247Sports Composite — 4 star (.9220), #207 overall, #14 RB, #41 in TX
On3 Consensus — 4 star (91.60 rating), #182 overall, #12 RB, #35 in TX
The 247 Composite and On3 Consensus both combine 247, On3, Rivals, and ESPN rankings.
247Sports — 4 star (90 rating), NR overall, #22 RB, #53 in TX
On3 — 4 star (93 rating), #82 overall, #8 RB, #18 in TX
Rivals — 4 star (5.8 rating), #213 overall, #16 RB, #40 in TX
ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), NR overall, #25 RB, #51 in TX
Irish Sports Daily — 4 star (91 rating)
According to the 247 Composite, nearly 1 in 5 recruit from the top 200 is from the state of Texas. We finally have a commit where On3 is much higher on him than the other services!
Cohort
In addition to the aforementioned A&M and TCU offers, Young was carrying scholarships from Michigan, Miami, Baylor, Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Houston, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Texas, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, and several more.
Highlights
Young is listed anywhere between 5’11” and 5’10” and he’s probably on the shorter side of that measurement but with a very compact and muscular frame. As such, he displays a lot of power with a low center of gravity and ruggedness when it’s necessary. At the high school level he can adeptly bounce off defenders and run away from arm tackles. I like his vision and patience in the backfield and Young shows good understanding of when to hit the hole with acceleration.
For sure, Young looks quick and displays pretty good long speed with several big runs on his highlight tape. He has good footwork and cuts in open space without wasted effort really well. In some ways, he reminds of a slightly less fluid and more muscular version of Dexter Williams. Overall, Young looks like an extremely high floor type of running back with a body-type and skill-set that could see him make an impact early in his career.
Impact
In our latest scholarship update back in May we had running back as a ‘medium need’ for this 2024 cycle. It was something that was a good idea but if they stuck to just 1 running back it wouldn’t be the end of the world. However, the Irish were able to close the deal with yet another excellent tailback to pair with Aneyas Williams. Together, Notre Dame has a pair of the top 20 running backs in this class according to the Composite.
I like Williams more in a hybrid role and he’s definitely the better and more experienced pass-catcher of the two in this class. In terms of pure running back skills, I like Young’s overall running style better and I think he’ll be the more explosive and big-play option compared to Williams.
It’s not out of the question that Young could be seeing the field in 2024, either. Audric Estime is probably more likely to go pro than not and the status of Jadarian Price’s Achilles injury is still to be determined and what he’ll look like as redshirt freshman remains fuzzy.
Welcome to the Irish family, Kedren!
I highly doubt anyone who knows what they are looking at will make this comparison, but to me, he runs like Kyren Williams. Definitely not comparing them as HS prospects, but his HS highlights look like Kyren’s ND highlights (minus the receiving).
Super hard to bring down. Rips off some huge runs, despite not being track fast. Great vision. Quick cuts when he sees a hole. Cool first name. Boring last name.
I am with On3 on this guy. He looks and runs like an NFL back. According to Google, Lufkin is Texas 5A, which I believe is the second biggest division in TX, so those long runs aren’t against slow kids.
I wonder if that short, muscular frame like Kyren’s help with pass blocking. I can watch the youtube clip of Kyren’s pass blocking in the Clemson win over and over and over again.
or maybe greg bryant-esque?
Kudos to the coaching staff for their recruiting in Texas this year and congrats to Kedren! That reflects a long-time relationship to pull them out of the state and Kedren’s academic qualifications and educational commitment. ND now has as many commits from Texas as Texas has commits overall (3).
The usual suspects – Oklahoma, LSU, etc – are getting commits from the state. Not so much so far with A&M.
That should change soon with some highly ranked recruits visiting Austin in June.
Interestingly, while 247 ranks the 2024 Texas class in the Big 12 rankings, On3 is classifying them in the SEC team rankings where they are currently 14th.
Texas had twenty-one players transfer out in 2023. So they could take a pretty large class in 2024.
Might be a busy week for the staff writing up the commit posts.
True Dat…..more coming.
Prescod in and good chance 1-2 more this week…For what is already the biggest class in the country so far. Cookin’ with gas right now.
Who else are we looking at? I haven’t been keeping up with all of it.
One I’ve been wrong about all along, Brauntae Johnson is apparently next on deck. Will happily eat crow on that if they can get him to stay. I’ve seen good thing on another safety too
o yes, ok I remember seeing that one now. Sounds like that would be a big get and big need in the secondary.
ISD has a youtube video with Jamie U and Greg Flammang that thinks Mencke Jr is essentially committed (apparently after his visit, we cancelled Gallegos’s visit). Also, it sounds like Johnson was more of an admissions type issue (my reading between the lines of their words), but since he’s on an official, it is reasonable to believe that any issues have been sorted out.
Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa also has an ND prediction to ND at 73%, however his official is on the 16th. Call me crazy but I have a special place in my heart for Polynesian LB’s that select ND.
KVA is my second favorite player with an OV still scheduled. Rushing is the only one I want more than him.
Paul Mencke is favored to choose ND.
I like how Young uses the momentum of the tackler to his advantage, keeping his balance and sort gliding with the hit. At 5’10” and 220lbs. he’s a load. Paired with Williams that’s a really good duo.
ON3 prediction machine:
Tae Johnson 93% Athlete Official Visit was June 4th
Paul Mencke Jr. 89% Safety Official was June 3rd