Bryce Young breaks down how Alabama's young receivers can step up for John Metchie

Alabama is still working to find ways to replace injured wide receiver John Metchie. Metchie, who leads the team with 96 receptions, tore his ACL in the SEC Championship game. He also ranks second on the team with 1,142 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young spoke to the media earlier in the week, where he expressed his confidence in what he’s seen from Alabama’s younger receivers.

“I have confidence in all those guys stepping up,” Young said. “They understand there’s an opportunity and we’re going to need guys to step up. You can tell they’ve been taking it to heart in practice. (Traeshon Holden)’s been doing a really good job of just competing in practice. We’ve had a good amount of good-on-good reps and the contested catches, him competing really shows up. Ja’Corey (Brooks) also doing a great job of really getting technical with his routes. He’s had some experience playing obviously in big moments, in big games. So I think he’s being more and more comfortable on the field and it shows.

“(Javon Baker) has been doing a great job competing as well. Been running really good routes. We’ve had some great opportunities to get some good-on-good snaps with this. It’s kind of an odd schedule for a game. So you could tell (Baker)’s really competed, made a lot of plays. And Agiye (Hall) stepped up as well, ran some good deep routes. Getting more comfortable with some of those routes that take a little bit more time and more reps.

While Young will miss having Metchie around, he is undoubtedly excited from what he’s seen from younger players so far.

“So I think all those guys are stepping up,” Young said of Alabama’s receivers. “I have all the confidence in the world in them.”

Alabama’s receivers are in for a touch matchup against Cincinnati

Jameson Williams will obviously play a big role on Alabama’s offense, as he has all year. This season, Williams has 68 receptions for 1,445 yards and 15 touchdowns. But behind him, there is uncertainty. Behind Williams and Metchie, only Slade Bolden has 300 receiving yards. That means that whoever steps into a bigger role on college football’s biggest stage will have enormous shoes to fill.

In addition to filling Metchie’s role, Alabama is going up against a great Cincinnati secondary. The Bearcats have two Consensus All-Americans in Coby Bryant and Ahmad Gardner. Gardner has not allowed a single touchdown in his collegiate career. Cincinnati has 18 interceptions as a team and 49 pass breakups.

“You know they are aggressive in the way that they play,” Saban added.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes, they are smart. They can mix it up and play zone. They are ballhawkers, they are all ballhawkers back there. They really attack the ball, they got a lot of turnovers. So it’s just really a talented group.”