STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- When Imhotep Charter took the field Friday night and punched their ticket to next week's state title game, it did so without standout Isheem Young, the four-star safety pledge who gave Penn State his verbal commitment in July.
The reason for Young's curious absence, as reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, was because he was arrested in the wee hours of Friday morning and arraigned on counts of robbery, conspiracy, firearms violations and related offenses. According to the police report obtained by The Inquirer, on July 30 Young allegedly was armed with a black revolver when he walked into and robbed a Wawa in South Philadelphia, demanding the money at gunpoint and taking $13,600 in cash from the store's safe. Police said Young's brother was the manager of the Wawa, and there was a getaway driver waiting down the block.
Surveillance video from July showed a male, identified as Suspect 1, getting dropped off behind the Wawa where he then walked inside and minutes later ran out of the building and down the street where he was picked up in the same car that dropped him off.
Young, who was 17 years old at the time of the incident, committed to Penn State on July 18, doing so with a splashy pool party video and he later followed up with a ceremony at his Philadelphia high school. He was ranked as the fifth-best prospect in Pennsylvania, the 13th best safety in the country and the 151st best player in the 2018 recruiting cycle, per 247Sports. This should end his verbal pledge to Penn State and with the early signing period ready to roll on Dec. 20 it would seem likely that the Nittany Lions' coaching staff has already resorted to recruiting other options.
Penn State has a pledge from three-star Isaiah Humphries in the class, the other safety who was slated to be paired with Young.
I am officially committed to...... pic.twitter.com/eiGtkZAjlq
— 3k (@Isheemyoung) July 18, 2017
This isn't the first time James Franklin will in all likelihood go another way on the recruiting trail with this class. Penn State parted ways with former verbal pledge Dorian Hardy back in October after Hardy's father said his son was punched by his head football coach. Hardy's head coach's side of the story was different as he said Hardy and another teammate injured his son – a Paramus Catholic freshman football player – so badly that he was hospitalized.
Penn State also parted ways with Myles Hartsfield back in 2014 when the safety pledge was involved in a bullying and hazing scandal at his high school. After the Lions rescinded his scholarship offer, Hartsfield ended up going to East Coast Prep and then accepted a scholarship to Ole Miss. Hartsfield even picked off a pass in the Egg Bowl last weekend.
Penn State's starting defensive end, Shareef Miller, a Philadelphia native whose path to Penn State meant he had to stay on the straight and narrow -- a challenge he's outlined many times since his arrival -- presumably was tweeting about Young on Friday night.
I’m Hurt for Lil bro mane ?
— Shareef Miller (@Reef745) December 2, 2017
Young was slated to be another Philadelphia product on the roster, much like Miller and defensive end Shaka Toney -- who also went to Imhotep Charter.