Bryce Young must evolve, adapt his game for Alabama encore

Alabama quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy last season, and he will enter 2022 as one of the top players in all of college football. But college football analyst JD PicKell thinks that there is still plenty of room for Young to grow.

Even though Young is viewed as a proven commodity – PicKell ranks him as the top quarterback in the nation entering 2022 – he still needs to show that he is capable of evolving and adapting his game if Alabama wants to return to contending for a national championship next season.

“At number one, the most proven commodity, he’s got the Heisman Trophy somewhere on his mantel in his apartment in Tuscaloosa, Bryce Young,” PicKell said. “What will he do for an encore? The scouting report on him: Makes amazing decisions, is extremely poised even when things are going crazy all around him, even when he’s on the run, he’s making laterals left and right. He still looks just the definition of calm.

“I love the way that he commands his offense, throws the ball downfield very effectively. He’s gonna have new weapons around him. No more Jameson Williams, no more John Metchie. They’re still going to have dudes. He has Jahmyr Gibbs lined up next to him now, he can hand the ball to.”

In 15 games last season, Young completed 66.9% of his passes for 4,872 yards, 47 touchdowns and seven interceptions on his way to winning the Heisman. But Young’s top two wideouts – Jameson Williams and John Metchie – are now in the NFL.

PicKell on Young, Alabama: ‘You’re not sneaking up on anybody’

With a year under his belt, opposing defenses also have a year worth of film and study piled up on Young and his tendencies under center for Alabama. To PicKell, Young’s ability to make adjustments in his game will be the key to Alabama’s season while trying to compete for a national title.

“The point for me is, when you are now a known commodity as Bryce Young, you’re not sneaking up on anybody,” said PicKell. “You weren’t really sneaking up on anybody too much a year ago. But now you have a year of film on you. How do you adapt your game. This may be in the more hot take department, but I think Bryce Young has to adapt and adjust his game a little bit in order to play for a national title. Because we saw in the SEC title game, he tore Georgia up. I mean he did what he wanted, he put on a clinic. He was passing out juice boxes and t-shirts to the Georgia defense after that SEC title game. Fast forward to the national title game, and Georgia had him confused. Threw that pick six that was costly to Kelee Ringo to seal the deal. He just looked confused. And so they’re not going to play Georgia every week.

“Obviously there’s going to be times where they just show up and they’re Alabama and that’s all there is to it. Doesn’t matter if Bryce Young’s playing or not, they’re Alabama and they’re going to roll. But I want to see how he takes that next step in his game. Can he beat you when it’s, ‘Hey, Bryce, we’re not going to let you run the football, also we’re taking away Jahmyr Gibbs. So you got to beat us strictly with your arm.’ Is he able to do that, is he able to just will his team. I think the answer’s yes, and obviously he’s our number one quarterback going into 2022. But I’m excited to see how does Bryce Young evolve and adapt his game to take it to the next level to ultimately allow his team to compete for a national championship.”