At the rate he is going, there soon might not be anyone left unfamiliar with his voice.

Young was named to the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America’s list of the top 20 sports broadcasters from colleges across America. The honor came as Young graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville after four years of work covering Cougars sports across the board.

“It's an unbelievable honor to be recognized as one of the nation's top collegiate sportscasters,” Young said. “It's a tribute to all of the hard work that I have put in over the years.

“When I look at the list and see my name, it is an awesome feeling that is hard to describe. I've gotten to know a lot of the guys who were recognized as well and they have the same work ethic as me. It's nice to be recognized in the same breath as the top sportscasters from all across the U.S.”

Young currently serves as Radio Broadcaster and Director of Media Relations for the Fayetteville SwampDogs Baseball Club located in Fayetteville, N.C. In addition to broadcasting the games and writing press releases, he also hosts a weekly television show on Time Warner in North Carolina.

“It has been an unbelievable experience already,” Young said. “I've already been hearing myself improve as the games go on and I'm getting the chance to work for a hard-working, first-class organization that is very respected by its peers. I'm appearing on radio shows all around North Carolina as well and I'm truly ‘The Voice of the SwampDogs.’"

Young has found that his time in the press row trenches with the Cougars has served him well now that he is a working professional.

“While at SIUE I was fortunate enough to meet numerous different people along the way that helped mold me into the sportscaster that I am today,” Young said. “A lot of people were willing to take a chance on me, and for that I'm grateful.

“While I learned a great deal in the classroom, it was what I did outside the classroom that got me my first job and it's also the reason I'm in the position now to succeed. I made a lot of my breaks by hard work and dedication. I took full advantage of every opportunity available to me.”

A former point guard with the Hawks in high school, Young was able to nurture his love for the game working for the Cougars hoops squads.

“I really enjoyed broadcasting SIUE Men's and Women's Basketball games,” Young said. “I broadcasted the games for radio my freshman and sophomore years and then switched over to broadcasting the games for local cable TV in my junior and senior years. Now that SIUE is Division I, it was neat broadcasting SIUE games against high-level Division I teams.”

Through SIUE, Young also got the chance to work with the professional teams in St. Louis.

“Covering the St. Louis Cardinals, Rams and Blues was surreal at first,” Young said. “I was 18 years old and still not in college yet when I covered my first Cardinals game.

“I started working at the radio station with WSIE the summer before I began college and I can still remember my first game and how nervous I was. Four years later when I was covering the games as a senior I started to notice how comfortable I was and how used to it I was. It got to the point where being around Albert Pujols or Tony LaRussa was just normal and something that I had done well over a hundred times.

“I believe covering the St. Louis professional sports teams helped me grow up quickly as a professional. I matured a lot during those four years because of covering the pro teams in St. Louis. I was always the youngest person covering the games, so I felt like I had to grow up quickly.”

It is just about time for Young to kick off his career in earnest, and while he has certain specific goals in mind, the path of journalism can be a winding one and he is ready to handle the twists and turns.

“After the baseball season is over in August I hope to find a spot broadcasting games for a university,” Young said. “I've been working extremely hard to get that accomplished. While that's my goal, I'm very versatile with experience in a lot of different aspects of sports broadcasting, so I'm open to a lot of things.

“My career could go in a lot of different directions, that's how this business is, but I've always said as long as I'm broadcasting sports in some capacity, I'll be happy. My ideal situation is to come back close to home to broadcast. It's been difficult being 14 hours away from home for the summer.

“My dream job is to broadcast St. Louis Cardinals baseball during the summer and then broadcast college basketball during the baseball off-season. I want to be the voice of a university, with my ultimate goal to broadcast St. Louis University basketball.”