Kordell Young was back at practice, in pads, doing everything Tuesday. This is fabulous news because Rutgers’ run game has been sputtering – it’s ranked seventh in the eight-team Big East and 64th in the country. And while that’s not entirely on the running backs or the line — Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said, ”Running the ball is more team oriented than even the passing game. You can get one guy who can just run fast and one guy can drop back and throw it to him – it’s two guys playing basketball out there. Running the ball takes everyone.” — who the tailback is does matter.

But this is also fabulous news because Kordell Young is a an unbelievable kid who truly deserves the best. In December of 2007, three months after his knee was completely destroyed on a freak punt return collision with Mason Robinson, I sat down to chat with Kordell about the remarkable attitude he’d shown through rehab. Greg Schiano kept talking about how upbeat he was and how Kordell looked forward while Schiano himself was still depressed and I figured I had a great story. And then Kordell told me how, when he was a little boy, his mom moved to Florida and could only take two of her four kids and one she didn’t take was him. And how his dad, when he got a new girlfriend, moved to Philadelphia and left him with his grandma. And how his grandma worked three jobs and so he had himself an empty house and all he did was come home every day, do his homework and make sure his little brother did too. And how he never ever thought anything but that he had a great life.

If I could find a link to my story that we wouldn’t have to pay for, I’d link it here. (I thought everything survived on the internet somewhere.) In any case, trust me on this one: Kordell’s an effervescent, always-smiling, absolutely great kid. And when he told us that he didn’t believe Mason Robinson – who had a freakish season-ending injury in this year’s first game - was shut down for the year because when Mason told him, he was smiling, I had to laugh. That’s exactly how Kordell was two years ago.

In any case, here, on SNY.tv, is my story on Kordell’s return and some notes from Tuesday’s practice.