‘In my spirits’: How Kedren Young thrives at Notre Dame with fallen friends not forgotten

Some conversations are nearly impossible to have. Sonna Young had one of those with her son, Kedren, on the morning of March 12, 2023.

Kedren was a junior at Lufkin (Texas) High School. He had gone out the night before and crossed paths with one of his old football position mates, Justavian Fann, a 2022 graduate of Lufkin and Young’s running back mentor. Everything Young achieved on the field — including breaking the all-time school record for career rushing yards, an accolade that helped him get recruited by and signed with Notre Dame — he admittedly owed at least in part to Fann for fostering him as a freshman.

Any lingering adoration from protégé to preceptor must be paid in prayer. It’s as impossible as one of those unfathomable conversations to say in person.

Fann stayed out longer than Young that night just more than two years ago, and he never made it home. He was fatally shot in a nightclub parking lot. Sonna had to break the news to her 17-year-old son that his 19-year-old former teammate and friend for life — a life cut down far too short — was dead.

“He was like, ‘No, no — I saw him. There’s no way. I just saw him at the party,’” Sonna told Blue & Gold Illustrated.

Just shy of four months later, it was Young’s turn to start a strikingly solemn conversation with his mother. He found out via social media his classmate and teammate, Nicholas Moore II, had overdosed. Moore was Fann’s best friend, and he never got over the emotional trauma that impacts anyone who loses a loved one. It’s trauma Young has carried with him to South Bend.

Before Young ever recorded one carry as a senior at Lufkin, let alone scored his first collegiate touchdown to put the finishing touches on a 51-14 Notre Dame victory over Navy at MetLife Stadium last October, he had dealt with the death of two of his closest companions.

Every time he puts on the blue and gold, he does so with them on his mind. In his heart. Over his heart, he wears a chain necklace with photos of both friends in a locket.

“I always try to keep them in my spirits,” Young told Blue & Gold Illustrated. “It hit me really hard. Two of my friends have already passed away? I couldn’t stop crying. It’s tough.”

‘That’s My Superwoman’

Young had a hole in his heart long before patching it up with the remembrance of his buddies.

He’s never known his own father.

Perennially out of the picture, Young’s dad last saw his son on his first birthday. He was invited to his second but didn’t show. For all of his life, he blocked out the reality of not having a father to fall back on. That’s not easy for any child, especially the eldest of four siblings. It’s on him to be strong.

But Sonna said there were times when her son, stoic by nature, showed supreme sadness. If the discussions about his deceased friends were the most difficult ones she’d ever held with him, another in particular is right up there with them.

“He broke down and let me know, he was like, ‘You’re the only one that loves me, you’re the only one that genuinely is here,’” Sonna said.

She was there, all right. Still is. For Kedren — and Andrew, Ajaya and Ajiah. All of them. Sonna worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. Clothing. Catering. Hairstyling. All in addition to her main line of work in the education industry.

“We had tough times dealing with everything, dealing with life in general,” Young said, “but our mom did everything she could to make sure we were OK. She made sure we were OK before she was OK. I will never, ever forget that. And I will never, ever leave her behind. That’s my superwoman.”

The best form of repayment to a parent is seldom monetary. Immeasurable debt is better served by making something of oneself. Young went from immense heartbreak in East Texas to putting on a golden helmet in northern Indiana at one of the most prestigious academic and athletic institutions in the world.

That’s making something of oneself. That’s repayment.

“A dream come true,” Young said. “She always tells me she’s so proud of me and my path, where I came from and where I’m at now. The journey’s obviously not over, but she’s so proud of the man I’ve become.”

“Kedren has set the standard, and that’s a blessing,” Sonna added. “His siblings want to be great because of him. They want to go to college because they see him. That’s something I can’t give them. I can pour into them, but I can’t give them everything. To have a brother that’s already accomplished it, that means the world.”

Just Getting Started

The journey isn’t over because it’s hardly begun.

The Youngs envision a lengthy Notre Dame career for Kedren, so much so that they actually requested a redshirt season for him in 2024. Not so he could retain a year of eligibility and take it with him into the transfer portal. He’d already be long gone if that was his intent. Rather, the writing is on the wall with Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price back for another season as Notre Dame’s one-two running back duo. Young scored against Navy then did not make another appearance for over a month, by design. He only played in four regular-season games, thus securing that sought-after redshirt.

He played in three of Notre Dame’s four College Football Playoff games in a special teams capacity, though. That doesn’t happen if the coaching staff doesn’t see a solid future for him; if the coaches don’t see a solid player. He belongs on the field, and his time is coming.

If former Irish running backs coach Deland McCullough had it his way, in fact, Young’s time would have already come.

“I wanted to play him,” McCullough told Blue & Gold in January. “I wanted to play this guy. I have full faith in him to play him. … He plays fast. He plays hard. He plays big. He plays strong.”

Former Lufkin head coach Todd Quick knows all of that. He had Young for four years. McCullough only had him for one before he took a job with the Las Vegas Raiders, but it doesn’t take a full 12 months to recognize Young’s got game. Just a fraction of that time is more than enough.

Notre Dame discovered it early in the recruitment process. Quick found out right away, too.

“Even as a young kid, as a freshman, he was so far ahead of everyone else,” Quick said. “He’s so focused on what he wants to do, and he’s not afraid of working for it.”

What he wants to do is not necessarily be the next Love or Price but be the one and only Young. He’s endured a lot to have an opportunity as grand as that at a place as grandiose as Notre Dame — why not make the absolute most out of it? That’s absolutely his aim.

“I’m just extremely blessed to be a part of this,” Young said. “I’m not taking anything for granted.”