Young was coached by Ray Seals at Madison High School in Houston, Texas. He started at quarterback for three years, and compiled 7,624 yards of total offense during his career.

Young was also a varsity athlete in numerous other sports. He was a four-year letterwinner (20+ points per game career average) and two-time all-district performer in basketball as a guard/forward, a three-year letterwinner in Track and field and member of two district champion 400-meter relay squads, and an outfielder and pitcher for the baseball team for two years.

Young signed with Texas in 2002 and "redshirted" rather than playing his first year. As a redshirt freshman in 2003, Young played in 12 games, including seven as the Longhorns' starting quarterback. He had a 6-1 record as a starter. As a sophomore in 2004, Young started every game and led the Longhorns to a 11-1 season record, a top 5 final ranking, and the school's first-ever appearance and victory in the Rose Bowl. Young is considered a dual threat quarterback due to his capabilities both rushing and passing the ball. Young entered the 2005 season on many lists of likely candidates to win the Heisman Trophy and was indeed a finalist for the trophy. He ended up coming in second place to Reggie Bush for the award

--Wikipedia