Nick Saban assesses play of Bryce Young, his interception, wide receivers

Alabama had a monster performance on offense on Saturday against Southern Miss. The Crimson Tide scored 42 points in the first half, and ultimately defeated the Golden Eagles 63-14. Quarterback Bryce Young had a great performance. Head coach Nick Saban spoke about Young after the game, also adding that Alabama’s receivers need to do a better job at separation.

Young completed 20 of his 22 passes in the game for 313 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.

“Bryce does an outstanding job,” Saban said to reporters after the game. “He’s very instinctive. He understands what the defense is doing, he reached coverage as well. And he knows exactly where he wants to go with the ball.”

Saban also said that Young’s lone interception was not his fault, as it hit the receiver in the chest before being picked off. He also said that Alabama has been working a lot in practice to help receivers improve at separating off of defenders.

“Well, the interception certainly wasn’t his fault,” Saban said. “He hit the guy right in the chest. Again, we work on receivers catching the ball with our hands. We don’t want them to body catch the ball. I think our receivers are improving in terms of being able to get away from man to man. But we are going to play against more challenging types of defensive teams that will challenge us in the secondary, challenge our ability to get separation.

“One of the things that we do in practice all the time is when we practice against each other, we play man to man half the time for that very reason that it makes five one on ones so people have to be able to learn how to separate. I think that helps our players on defense, but I think it also helps our players on offense. It’s something that we’re going to have to continue to stress and continue to work on.”

Alabama’s receivers still had a solid day in the win

Jameson Williams made history in the win, as he returned two kicks for a touchdown for the first time in Alabama’s history. Williams also added an 81-yard touchdown reception. Williams returned three kicks on the night for 177 yards, averaging 59 yards per return.

Receiver Jahleel Billingsley also had a good day at receiver for Alabama. Billingsley caught five passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, averaging 21 yards per reception. Javon Baker and Jase McClellan also caught touchdowns in the win, as tight end Cameron Latu had 57 yards and two scores.

Alabama totaled 606 yards in the game, and the strong day from Young and some receivers was a big reason behind the offensive explosion. The Crimson Tide also rushed for 211 yards and a touchdown, averaging 6.4 yards per carry.

Alabama has two tough matchups in the ensuing two weeks. Next week, Alabama hosts a surging Ole Miss team. The next week, Alabama travels to take on Texas A&M.