Sharron Young made his mark at Akron as a significant contributor over his first two seasons of college basketball.
He’s now hoping to do something similar at Western Kentucky, a program the former Morgantown High School star and Bill Evans Award winner joined in April after former Zips’ head coach John Groce moved on to College of Charleston.
“It got a little hectic with coach Groce leaving from Akron. A bunch of schools reaching out, it got pretty hectic, but I knew God was going to direct me to the right situation,” Young said earlier this week as a guest on Citynet Statewide Sportsline.
A past relationship and connection to Hilltoppers’ assistant coach Martin Cross helped sway Young to his new home.
“Coach Cross heavily recruited me going into my senior year of high school during my last year of AAU,” Young said. “He was one of the first coaches to reach out and I thought it was the best thing.”
A junior, the 6-foot guard has overcome what he lacks in size through an advanced skillset that features quality ball-handling and perimeter prowess to go with a defensive-minded mentality.
Young played in 69 of a possible 70 games at Akron the last two seasons.
As a true freshman, he averaged 16 minutes of action across 35 contests and finished with 7.4 points per game on 46 percent shooting, including 39.8 percent from three-point range.
“I have to thank [Morgantown] coach Dave Tallman for helping me a lot with little things and getting me ready for the college part,” Young said. “My trainers Nate Smith and Juwan Staten had me ready to go. The transition to Akron, guys are a lot bigger than me and physical, so I just tried to make the daily deposits every day working out with the guys and my coaches, getting bigger and stronger and just learning the game.”
The numbers were similar in his sophomore campaign as Young averaged 7.6 points over 18.9 minutes, though his shooting percentage dipped to 41.1, including a plenty respectable 36.2 from long range.
After recording 35 steals to average exactly one per contest in his first go-around at the college level, Young upped that figure to 48 in his second season.
“I definitely felt like I was prepared, especially on the defensive part, because that’s one of my main focuses,” Young said. “Being able to play defense at the size I am is one thing I need to have.”
While Young was primarily in a reserve role at Akron, he was a part of two highly successful squads. The Zips won the Mid-American Conference Tournament both seasons and had a 57-13 record the last two years.
Although Akron failed to advance beyond the first round both instances, Young was part of successive squads that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Zips lost to Arizona in their 2025 season finale, before being eliminated by Texas Tech in the most recent postseason.
“The energy in the building is definitely very different,” Young said of a NCAA Tournament atmosphere.
Within two weeks of the loss to the Red Raiders, Groce had moved to his new home.
In mid-April, Young signed with WKU.
As he transitions to a new program further away from home, Young hopes to carry over much of what he accomplished and learned at Akron.
“Transferring to WKU has been a little adjustment, but it’s been pretty fun meshing with my new teammates and coaches,” Young said. “Everyone gets along pretty well.”
WKU finished 18-14 last season in what marked Hank Plona’s second as head coach.
Young hopes to be part of a team that increases that win total as he’s grown accustomed to winning at a high rate throughout high school and college.
As a Mohigan, he played in the maximum number of possible state tournament games (12) and was a key component of three straight state championship teams from his sophomore to senior seasons after MHS came within a play of finishing on top his freshman year.
Young is also responsible for one of the more memorable plays in West Virginia high school basketball history as it was his three-pointer in the final seconds of overtime that made the difference in the 2024 state final against Spring Mills.
“I remember coming off the court my freshman year when we lost that game and my uncle telling me ‘remember this feeling,’” Young said. “I remember that feeling ever since.”