The race for the services of Honolulu St. Louis standout Rustin Young has seemingly come down to two schools, Arizona State and Michigan State. On Monday, Sun Devils head coach Kenny Dillingham and offensive line coach Saga Tuitele had a home visit with the 6-5 270-pound offensive lineman, an experience that has only deepened Young's affinity towards ASU.
“They came to my school in the morning,” Young said, “and then came to my house in the evening. They’re very informative and answered everything that my parents wanted to know, like the dorms. Coach Kenny said that he enjoyed eating food that he had never eaten before. I have a big family; we’re seven kids, and it was special that he got to meet everyone in my family.
“They told me that if I put weight on, 20 pounds more and get to 290 lbs. by the time I get up there in August, I would have a chance of starting. I was very comfortable on my official visit, talking to the coaches and players, and it’s a cool place. Coach Kenny pulled that picture of all of us on our recruiting visit, where I’m the only one not committed, and wanted to make sure that I saw that picture (laughs). I did that picture before because everybody was tagging me (laughs).
“I like their unique approach to recruiting because they don’t only look for good players, they look for good people. Coach Kenny said tonight (Monday) that if you recruit a good player who isn’t too good of a person, somewhere down the line, they will fall off. But if you recruit a good player who is also a great person to consider, they will continue to excel, and that is the type of player and person that they are looking for. I thought it was a cool outlook on that. That made me feel a lot more wanted. Coach Saga came to see me last week the day after my official visit there (to ASU) ended, and now he and Coach Kenny came to see me. That made me feel very special.”
Young, who decommitted from Oregon State on December 6th, is scheduled to officially visit Michigan State on the 15th and once again meet Jonathan Smith, who is the former Beavers coach and is now at the helm of the Spartans. The offensive lineman, who graduates high school in the spring, said that he still plans to sign a Letter of Intent in February and could visit Auburn at the end of January.
“Because I just decommitted last week, I don’t want to rush anything and make sure I know the coaches as well as possible,” Young explained. “I want to go to a school with a community that supports that school because I feel like the community represents the school. I want to find a school where players actually like being there, not just there because that’s the only school they can go to.
“Obviously, the coaches need to be good coaches and great people at the same time, which I feel Arizona State fits that one. They have really nice facilities, so that’s not a worry at all.”
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