There weren’t a ton of freshmen who made a major imprint on the football field for the Cincinnati Bearcats in 2016. One player who broke that mold was Perry Young, a defensive back who managed to play his way into an important role by the time the year was over.
Young was a three-star recruit out of Birmingham, Alabama, ranked the No. 152 safety in the 2016 class by Scout.com. That wasn’t enough to earn him a starting job out of camp, but his efforts during the summer, plus UC’s roster breakdown allowed him to earn playing time right away.