Bryce Young cracks jokes about not scoring on career-long run: 'It was a new place for me'

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young looked like he didn’t have any rust to shake off whatsoever versus Utah State on Saturday. The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner’s arm threw for five touchdowns but Young’s legs were also in the spotlight, carrying him to a career-high 100 rushing yards.

The third-year Tide star only needed five rushing attempts to reach 100 yards, thanks to a career-long scramble for a 63-yard gain. He almost managed to get to the endzone but cut into some traffic before he could get there. Young joked about the rarity of his long run after the game.

“(I was) just reacting, stepped up and saw green grass, just reacting to what the defense gave,” Young said. “And still reacting on the run downfield, a new place for me, making cuts and stuff downfield, so I guess I got to get a little bit better at that.”

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After 81 rushing attempts last season, he finished with 0 net yards on the ground. The 100 yards versus Utah State can almost guarantee that his stat line will be better in 2022.

Young finished the day with 295 total yards, six scores and a 64.5% completion percentage.

Despite the Crimson Tide’s dominant performance in the shutout, Nick Saban identified some areas for improvement after the game.

Saban wants more from Tide run game

Alabama defeated Utah State in their season opener in a 55-0 drubbing that saw the Crimson Tide rush for nearly 300 yards on just 32 carries. Despite rushing for 8.7 yards per play on average Saturday night, Nick Saban still saw some things he wants tweaked moving forward.

“I look at how we ran the ball more as, OK, we had an explosive run – Jahmyr Gibbs. Bryce had an explosive run on a scramble, aight,” Saban said. “But what was the down in and down out consistency in terms of how we were successful at gaining three, four, five yards a crack. That wasn’t what it needed to be. So that’s something that we need to improve on.”

Saban will look to have this rushing attack where he needs to be in time for Alabama’s Week 2 matchup against the Texas Longhorns. One of the marquee matchups of this Saturday’s slate, the Crimson Tide and Longhorns will kickoff at noon ET live on Fox as both teams will try to remain unblemished early in the 2022 season.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.