#23 Joshua Youngblood

True Freshman | 5-10 | 180 lbs. | Tampa, Florida

Courtesy Kansas State Athletics

• Position: Wide Receiver
• Previous College: None
• Projection: Second-String
• Status: On Scholarship

Joshua Leo Youngblood (b. Jan. 26, 2001) is a promising young wide receiver prospect from Berkeley Prep in Tampa, Florida. He has a chance to see major playing time in 2019:

Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman can’t predict when Joshua Youngblood will become a major part of the Wildcats’ offense. But Klieman is willing to guarantee it will happen at some point, and probably this season. That’s how good Youngblood has looked early on during preseason camp. The 5-foot-10 receiver from Tampa has too much talent to watch games from the sideline, even as a freshman. “Joshua Youngblood is a kid that makes splash plays,” Klieman said. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing right now, but he makes splash plays and will probably be in the mix somewhere.”

That was the recent assessment reported by The Wichita Eagle’s Kellis Robinett, who added:

And Youngblood is definitely good enough to play. Klieman has hyped him up since the moment he signed with the Wildcats last winter, calling him the steal of his inaugural recruiting class. Klieman then followed that up with more praise over the summer.

A four-year letter-winner for the Buccaneers under head coach Dominick Ciao, Youngblood was regarded as the 75th-best athlete in the Class of 2019 by ESPN.

He was an honorable mention pick for The Tampa Bay Times’ All-Tampa Bay team, while the organization named him a second-team utility player among Hillsborough County preps.

Youngblood rushed for 2,221 yards and 26 touchdowns over his junior and senior seasons, to go along with 419 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns on 22 catches over his sophomore and senior campaigns.

He returned 16 kickoffs during his career for a 19.1-yard average and also played quarterback as a junior and senior, throwing for 1,056 yards and 13 touchdowns on 79-of-161 aim.

Youngblood led Berkeley Prep to the regional final of the state playoffs as a senior and also lettered two years in basketball, earning defensive player of the year honors.

He is the first prep player out of the state of Florida to sign with the Wildcats since 2009.

Youngblood picked K-State over a long list of offers from Air Force, Akron, Appalachian State, Army, Boston College, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Campbell, Central Arkansas, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, The Citadel, Connecticut, Cornell, Dartmouth, East Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, Elon, Florida Atlantic, Fordham, Furman, Gardner-Webb, Georgia Southern, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Liberty, Marshall, Massachusetts, Mercer, Middle Tennessee State, Minnesota, Murray State, Navy, North Dakota State, Rhode Island, Samford, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Toledo, USF, Western Carolina, Western Kentucky and Wofford, as well as interest from Purdue, Rutgers and UCLA. He previously was committed to Temple.