Kent State cornerback performs under pressure

[kooldak]

Saints impressed by pro day workout

By Jimmy Smith/The Times-Picayune

The two invitations most college seniors wait for after their regular seasons never came for Kent State cornerback Usama Young.

No Senior Bowl. And, most importantly for a professional hopeful, no summons to the NFL combine, the Holy Grail of pre-draft examinations that often determines so many futures.

So a few weeks ago, at Kent State's pro day, Young was hoping that scouts from at least a few teams would show up on the Kent, Ohio, campus with stopwatches and tape measures in hand, and he was unsure if the Saints, who drafted Young with the first of two third-round picks, were present.

"It was a lot of pressure," Young said Saturday night, "just because it was like I had this one shot to impress a lot of people, and I was looking forward to it for a long time. I was kind of mad that I didn't get that invite to the combine, so I had to make the most out of my pro day.

"It was like, 'Let me do what I've been doing, do well on the individual drill, run fast, jump high.' "

Full Story - The Times-Picayune