Nick Saban turns question about Bryce Young protecting himself into statement on his star QB's guts

 Alabama took their first loss of the season Saturday, falling in a shootout against Tennessee 52-49. The Crimson Tide’s quarterback Bryce Young returned to action Saturday against the Volunteers after missing last week’s game to an injury suffered to his throwing shoulder.

Young was still nursing his injury throughout the contest, and head coach Nick Saban was asked about the challenge of Young protecting himself in Saturday’s game versus attempting to extend and make plays and potentially risking further injury.

“Look Bryce is a competitor, and he’s a great competitor, and he’s a good leader on the team. And we need to do a better job of protecting him and we certainly don’t want him to get hit. Can we do that 100%?” Saban asked. “You know sometimes he scrambles and runs and gets hit, but he’s a competitor, and he’s one of the guys that is a real warrior on our team when it comes to doing whatever he needs to do to try to help the team to win.”

Young still had a great individual performance in their loss, completing 67% of his passes for 455 yards and two touchdowns. Young ended the game throwing 52 pass attempts on his recently injured throwing shoulder, and had trainers working on it throughout the game. Additionally, Young was sacked once on a questionable no-call for a roughing the passer or targeting penalty and was hurried nine times, taking hard hits throughout the night inside and outside of the pocket.

CLICK HERE to subscribe for FREE to the On3 YouTube channel

“Whether it’s scramble, sit in the pocket for the last minute and try to deliver a ball and maybe take a hit because of it. We don’t want that to happen and we need to do a better job so it doesn’t happen,” Saban said.

Saban and the Crimson Tide obviously want their former Heisman trophy winner to take as few hits as possible, but he also understands that Young’s play style is a fabric of his competitive nature as a player.

“But can we eliminate it happening and will he ever be a guy that doesn’t do everything he can to help the team have a chance to be successful and help that play have a chance to be successful? I don’t think so.” Saban said. “I think that’s why he is what he is, that’s why he is a great player, because of that, so I don’t know how to change that.”

Young surely had a gutsy performance against Tennessee despite losing, and they may need another one out of him next week, as Alabama goes from playing the SEC’s top passing offense in Tennessee to the second-best in No. 24 Mississippi State this Saturday at home.