Bryce Young explains the value of him sitting on the bench as a freshman

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young ended his career on a high note with a dazzling performance that helped lead the Crimson Tide to a 45-20 Cotton Bowl win over Kansas State. Following the game, Young declared for the 2023 NFL Draft, and most have him ranked as one of the top prospects in the entire draft class. But before Young was regarded as one of the best, he was a backup quarterback his freshman year, which he discussed following the Sugar Bowl.

“It was a great experience for me, extremely humbling,” Young said. “I think that’s why I wanted to come here, everyone who comes here is a huge recruit, everyone has options, and everyone comes in and the competition and coming in and everyone having things in the background and coming together and making sure you’re pushing each other. And that’s why I wanted to come here and I think that’s what Alabama did for me, it allowed me to compete.”

Out of high school, Young was one of the most highly touted quarterback prospects of the last decade, ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the 2020 class with a five-star rating according to On3 Consensus. Young may have been one of the most decorated high school quarterbacks to ever come out of Southern California, but the freshman from Mater Dei still had to sit behind quarterback Mac Jones before getting handed the reigns of Alabama’s offense.

“And sitting my freshman year was something I hadn’t done before, it was hard, I’m a competitor so I wanted to play. But it was a blessing in disguise because being able to learn from Mac and being able to watch that offense, that team, operate and being able to be there through every step of that, it really helped me. It really ended up being extremely beneficial in my development, I trust the process, I’m happy to be here,” Young said.

After sitting on the bench his freshman year, the rest was history, as Young put together one of the most prolific quarterback seasons in college football history. Young threw for a school-record 4,872 yards and 47 touchdown passes on his way to a Heisman Trophy win, ending his career this season at the top or near the top of many of Alabama’s school passing records despite starting just two seasons for the Crimson Tide.

Young’s amazing career came from humble beginnings, and hopefully for Young, he can achieve similar success at the next level.