Norco's Young Following Steps Of Toby Gerhart

Rahshaun Haylock

STUDIO CITY, Calif. (CBS) - Don't say a word. Not even a peep. Let your play do the talking. For a couple of players, they're play has had a lot to say so far this season.

There have been plenty of great performances and performers so far in 2010 as we near the halfway point of the season. Two players have asserted themselves as bonafide threats and appear to be leading candidates for Player of the Year. Norco RB Kelsey Young and Serra WR/DB Marqise Lee don't often have much to say as their coaches, Todd Gerhart and Scott Altenberg respectively, will tell you.

"He's really quiet," says Gerhart of his Stanford-bound tailback. Young would be characterized as the spiritual leader of his 4-0 Cougar team. He leads by example and is not a rah-rah type of guy that will scream in his teammates face.

If you catch a glimpse of the opposing sideline you may get a glimpse of defenders screaming at each other trying to figure how to stop number 1 in white and blue.

In Norco's season opener, Young showed no mercy on the defending LA City Section Champs, running for 297 yards on 22 carries. Young had three scores in the game. Gerhart recalls a play in that game when he made seven guys miss. "They'll be replaying that forever," says Gerhart.

A fan of the encore, the following game, Young scored six TD and rushed for 288 yards. Against Upland, the senior finished with a pedestrian 137 yards on 19 carries. That was only in one half. In fact, Gerhart says he's limited his tailback's play the last couple of weeks because of an ailing ankle. That however didn't stop him from rushing for three TD and returning a punt for a TD last week in the Big VIII league opener against JW North.

Young is a 3-year starter for (8) Norco, who's seen his role increase each year. He rushed for over 1,700 yards last season despite sharing time with Deantre Lewis (Arizona State.) This season he relishes harboring the load. His 11 TD this season equal his total from 2009. "He's one of the top tier backs," says Gerhart. "He's elusive [and] its hard to get a big hit on him," the coach added.

As for Lee, like Young, he's quiet but quite the competitor. "He gets so focused sometimes its like holy cow!" says (1) Serra head coach Scott Altenberg. To most, Lee was an unknown commodity on the offensive side of the ball before this season. He played some offense as a sophomore but barely any last season as a junior.

Altenberg explains, there were seven Division I-type wide receivers on the team last season there was really no room for Lee. Last season, they held claim to the best WR trio in the nation in then junior George Farmer and seniors Robert Woods (USC), and Paul Richardson.

Lee focused on playing in the defensive backfield and is being highly recruited as a safety. But now Altenberg is fielding questions about Lee the wideout.

It took Lee all of one game to equal last seasons receiving total with three receptions. So far this season, Lee is leading the Cavs in every statistical, receiving category. He has 16 receptions this season --ten are TD.

Last week in a win over Narbonne he made five catches for 191 yards and four TD. "I'm really surprised by how well he's stepped into it," says Altenberg on watching Lee burst onto the scene as one of the top playmakers in the area.

Lee's first sport is basketball and you can tell by watching him play on the gridiron. "He plays wide receiver like he plays basketball he just goes and gets it ...corners are impressed by how quick he gets to the ball."

Oh by the way, Lee is also leading the team in interceptions.

He is doing all this in jersey number 2 and not the number 9 he wore last season. Number 2 was worn by Robert Woods for three seasons for Serra and he also started on both sides of the field. Woods is now starting at WR and returning kicks for USC. That spoke volumes to Altenberg, " it says a lot of him to want to do that and follow a kid that broke every record [here] imaginable." So far he's doing a good job.

As for the number itself, Altenberg jokes "its magical, you just put it on and you become a freak of nature. I feel really bad for the kid that gets it next year." Meanwhile opponents are feeling bad having to face the guy who's wearing it this year.

While the University of Michigan may have its number 1. Serra has once again has its number 2.