Bryce Young, Nick Saban on being named Alabama's starting quarterback

After spending all summer playing against fellow Crimson Tide, Alabama starting quarterback Bryce Young is ready to face a new opponent. At long last, Young will have the chance to do just that this weekend as the Crimson Tide travel to Florida to face the Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 4.

“Everyone is obviously really excited to get the season started. You go through a long offseason of going against each other, and it’s great to finally be able to play other people and start to game plan and prepare,” Young said Monday. “So, it’s super exciting overall — me individually, and us as a team — just for us to start the season and try to put it together; start game planning, start working towards an opponent, we’re all excited about it.”

It’s been a busy offseason for the Crimson Tide sophomore, who hardly saw the field last season backing up Mac Jones. But before the Pasadena, California, native is thrust into the starting quarterback role, he made sure to spend the summer months working on his leadership skills.

Young enrolled at Alabama in the spring of 2020 after concluding a storied high school career at California powerhouse Mater Dei. As a freshman, Young sat behind Mac Jones but appeared in nine games. He finished the year 13-of-22 passing for 156 yards and a touchdown.

“I’m super excited,” Young said of the upcoming season. “It’s always exciting being able to go into a game week with my teammates and with my brothers, and really going in to a new environment and us getting to start the season. It’s very exciting, especially last year just being able to be a part of the team and learn and even learn this year from my teammates. It’s been great; it’s been a great experience and I definitely don’t take it for granted.”

As has been the case with the Crimson Tide offense the past few seasons, Young will have a myriad of weapons to utilize in Alabama’s offense, most notably, wide receivers John Metchie III, Slade Bolden, Ohio State transfer Jameson Williams and more. Young in the past has said Metchie III should be the “cornerstone” of Alabama’s offense heading into 2021.

Head coach Nick Saban has praised Young and other pieces of the Alabama offense in the past. On Monday, he continued to speak highly of Young — the rest of the team, however, didn’t receive the same praise.

Saban expressed that the other offensive pieces have some catching up to do before they can match Young’s high-level of play, something he’s hopeful they can do by Saturday’s season opener.

“Yeah, Bryce has done a nice job. I think he’s very confident, he understands the offense really well, he’s accurate with the ball, as I’ve mentioned before, the focus has been, ‘Can we get the players around him to play a little bit better with him?’ So, that’s going to help him probably be able to execute a little bit better and that’s been what we’ve worked hard on. And I think we’re making good progress in that regard.”