Winston Young will give you one at his convenience store, but he won’t be one on the football field this fall. Daily News-Record -
By Jeremy CothranBRIDGEWATER — It took three years before Bridgewater College’s Winston Young could truly be considered the featured running back in football coach Mike Clark’s offense.
His rise in the business world was much faster.
After only two months this summer, Young worked himself up from the role of cashier to assistant manager at Quarrels gas station, just up the road from campus on Route 42.
He’ll need all the fuel he can get this fall: Young is set to fill the tailback spot vacated by Division III All-American Marcus Washington. So when he’s not working the 2 p.m.-to-midnight shift at the Q-Stop – he averages about 50 hours a week there – Young often is pumping iron at Nininger Hall with teammate/roommate Craig Smith. The pair wakes up at 8 o’clock every morning for intense workouts that involve lifting and sprints.
Any other time? Most likely sleeping.
"It’s funny to see," Clark said with a chuckle. "I stopped by the other day and he gave me a strawberry milkshake. It’s the perks, you know, of being a Division III coach."
It might have been funny to see a 5-foot-10, 215-pound football player schlepping groceries for Bridgewater residents and checking ID’s of his fellow students making late-night beer runs, but Young has worked his way past that level. He’s the boss now, making sure the store runs smoothly.
"It keeps me out of trouble," Young, who was raised in suburban Toronto and South Florida, said when asked why he decided to work at the Q-Stop. "It keeps me focused. To be able to jump from regular employee to running a store, it shows responsibility when I get on the football field."
He’ll return to the field in 2½ weeks – practice starts Aug. 13 -- and the running back responsibilities will fall mainly on his shoulders this fall. Last season, Young proved himself as the No. 2 tailback in BC’s run-heavy offensive schemes, rushing for 902 yards on 102 carries, good for an almost-absurd 9 yards every time he touched the ball.
Jeff Highfill, the freshly anointed starting quarterback, can hardly contain his excitement when he thinks of the possibilities of having Young in his backfield fulltime.
"[Winston’s] not afraid to lower his shoulder," Highfill said. "He’s not afraid to get to work. He’s no prima donna, but hopefully he’ll be a star for us."
Clark thinks it’ll happen.
"He’s a franchise tailback," Clark said. "He’s a Division I player playing Division III football. You look at his body and he’s the kind of kid you think belongs at Virginia or Tech."
Young said he believes he would have gone to a Division I college, but during his senior year at Boyd Anderson High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he took a hit during a game that damaged his nerves, causing him to lose feeling from his neck down to his arm on the right side of his body. The big-time schools all backed off, leaving a fateful meeting with Clark at a recruiting fair in Fort Lauderdale to prompt his move to the Valley.
"He was honest with me," Young said. "I told him, ‘I know I can still play. All I want is a chance.’ He gave me that, and that’s all I ever asked for."
Young almost didn’t get into football. He was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, but grew up North York, Ontario – a stone’s throw from Toronto – where, of course, ice hockey dominates youth sports. In fact, his mother, Carol Bartley, now lives just a few minutes away from the youth residence of Wayne Gretzky in Brampton, Ontario.
"I played [hockey] ever since I was 5 years old," Young said, laughing. "And yeah, I was really that good."
Young thought he would go far delivering bone-crushing checks on the ice, but a friend -- Kerry Carter, a Toronto native who currently is in the Redskins system – urged him to check out football. After joining a team in North York between his eighth- and ninth-grade years, Young quickly dumped hockey.
He packed his bags, kissed his mother goodbye and moved in with his father, Winston Young Sr., in South Florida.
"It was so different," said Young, taking a break on the benches outside of Quarrels. "I loved the school down there. Everyone was so big, too. I had trees blocking for me. And fast, too. I was fast in Canada, but just average in Florida until I learned really how to run."
And run he can.
Clark linked Young’s talents to those of former BC stud tailback Devon Cruz. Both had the coveted combination of size and speed –Young said he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds – but differed slightly in running styles. Young, Clark said, is much shiftier behind the line of scrimmage than Cruz.
The agile-yet-bullish Young certainly relishes the added responsibility that will be bestowed on him when the Eagles open the season on Sept. 2 at McDaniel, and he dreams about playing pro ball in either the NFL or CFL, but for now the only "Jamericanadian" on the Bridgewater roster has to focus on making sure the Q-Stop is in tip-top shape.
Of course, his teammates give him a little ribbing for it.
"It’s so funny," Highfill said. "But Winston’s been doing that for a while. Half of his family is in Canada and the other half in Florida and here he is putting in long hours at the gas station. He’s something."
#5 | 5'10'' | 180
This is an email I received and am publishing with permission:
#25 | 5'9'' | 210
#93 | 5'10'' | 225
#13 | 6'3'' | 195
#87 | 6'2'' | 185
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