If you could pull a thought bubble out of Joey Young’s head, over his helmet, one might see a lot of equations and squiggly lines and strange number combinations. He’s like a gridiron codebreaker under center for J.P. Stevens High School.
“He processes stuff,” Hawks coach Joe Riggi said. “He takes it all in. He’s learning as the play goes on. He’s trying to decipher what’s next. What’s the read on it? So he’s always thinking. He’s a thinking man’s quarterback."
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In the option offense, Young does need to think fast, and his decisions have been working out. Last Friday, the Hawks (4-4) defeated Monroe 29-14 to give them their most wins in five seasons. The junior amassed 217 yards from scrimmage with rushing and passing touchdowns.
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Readers voted Young the MyCentralJersey.com’s Greater Middlesex Conference Readers’ Choice Football Player of the Week. Young garnered 53.14 percent of the final tally (6,113 votes) among a dozen candidates.
If J.P. Stevens can beat Bloomfield (3-6) at home Thursday in a regional crossover, it will be the program’s most wins since a 5-5 finish in 2006.
“I’m very proud of the way the guys have been playing and the effort they’ve been putting in,” Riggi said. “All that hard work is paying off.”
J.P. Stevens feature a pair of playmakers in Devon Fowlkes and Kasi Hazzard. Riggi noted that opponents will often try to double-team one or the other. That leaves Young having to make quick observations where to dish the ball. It also opens up the lanes for him to excel.
“The fact that we got the dual threats of Devon and Kasi takes a lot of pressure off Joey,” Riggi said. “Because teams are gunning for those guys to shut them down. And then that’s when Joey sneaks in and takes over. So it’s a great dynamic we have in the backfield.”
Take last Friday. Monroe focused on trying to stymie Hazzard, who like Fowlkes, can both run and catch passes. That freed up Young at times. Watch out.
“Joey’s just as dangerous on the ground than he is in the air,” Riggi said. “We try to keep teams on their toes by saying, OK, if you want to come press us and come after Joey, he’ll throw over the top. If you’re going to drop off to cover those guys, then we’re going to run under with Joey. So, we hopefully, keep teams guessing on what we’re going to do next.”
The 5-foot-8, 165-pound Young runs the chess game with a cool demeanor.
“Very cool customer,” Riggi said with a laugh. ‘Boy, cool as they come. He’s got one emotion. He just stays that way the whole time. Doesn’t get rattled, even if I’m yelling at him. I can’t tell if I’m getting to him or not. Nothing rattles him.”
Riggi notes it’s that ability to not dwell on mistakes that help propels Young to keep moving forward. Indeed, many quarterbacks are the vocal leaders of their team. Young, though, is a more quiet, stoic face-type of player. Riggi said it’s a victory to get him to crack a smile sometimes. He simply does his job.
“He’s definitely come into his own and understands this is my team and I got to run this team," Riggi said. "He’s got the vocal leaders in Devin and Kaci, who can get the guys going and let Joey do his thing. And that’s great.”
As a former quarterback himself, Riggi noted in the past he’d typically would want a more vocal player in the position. But he came to realize that, “You also want a kid who’s going to make things happen. It’s a tradeoff. We want the best of both, but we don’t always get it. But you want a kid that, in the end, is going to perform. And Joe performs.”
Young, who started as a sophomore, has continued to improve on both sides of the ball. He also starts at safety, using his quarterback knowledge in the secondary.
“And the thing is, we just throw more and more on him every week and challenge him," Riggi said. "He seems to rise to the challenge every time."
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