Young was a four-year letterman in basketball at Clifton J. Ozen High School in Beaumont, Texas.
As a senior, he averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game; his team won the Texas State championship and earned a Top 10 national ranking.
Both players initially committed to play at Memphis, but Perkins changed his mind and entered the 2003 NBA draft.
[1] Left without a Division I scholarship late in the summer, Young ended up playing at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas.
He helped the Texans post a 24–9 record, good for second place in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
During his freshman season, Young accepted a scholarship offer from Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.
He planned to return to South Plains for his sophomore season, but was surprised to receive a scholarship offer from Steve Cleveland, coach at Brigham Young University.
Towards the end of the season, Young replaced injured Garner Meads as starting power forward.
He finished the season with averages of 10.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, and his field goal percentage (52.3 percent) ranked fifth in the Mountain West Conference (MWC).
However, Young was overshadowed during his junior year by new teammate Trent Plaisted, a 6-foot-11 center who averaged 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
In anticipation of the 2006–07 season, Plaisted was anointed BYU's go-to guy, while Young was considered just a solid role player.
He scored in double figures in the first seven games of the season, including 27 points and 11 rebounds in a 73–69 victory over Weber State.
Ray Giacoletti, the coach of rival Utah, commented, "You can't guard Keena Young.
Young played a solid game, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds, but BYU suffered a heart-breaking 79–77 loss.
[5] In 2007, Young had a short stint with Spotter Leuven, a professional team in Belgium, before joining Mobis Phoebus of the Korean Basketball League (in South Korea).