Bryce Young opens up on what loss of John Metchie means for Alabama offense

Almost everything seemed to go right for Alabama in the SEC Championship against Georgia — that is, everything except the John Metchie injury.

Alabama rolled past Georgia, who it will soon face again in the national championship, by a 41-24 final, winning the SEC title again and punching a ticket to the College Football Playoff. However, in the process, Alabama’s offense suffered a brutal blow when Metchie, one of the team’s leading receivers, suffered a season-ending torn ACL. He finished the contest with six receptions for 97 receiving yards and one touchdown Now, as Alabama prepares to face Georgia once again, quarterback Bryce Young said that the Crimson Tide will struggle to replace Metchie, despite a talented receiving corp.

“I mean, Metchie is someone that you just can’t replace. Losing Metchie was huge for us; that definitely hurt. It’s really tough,” Young said on Saturday. “But as Coach is always saying, that creates opportunity for other people. And we had people step in the wake of that. We’ve had a little bit of time to adjust. And people have stepped up in games. Second half, SEC Championship and in the Cincinnati game, people stepped up and are going to continue to do that. And in practice, the same thing.”

Metchie finished his 2021 campaign with 96 receptions, which is by far and away the team lead, along with 1,142 yards and eight touchdowns. In his absence, Alabama will rely on several wide receivers to make up for the output, but perhaps no receiver becomes more important than Jameson Williams. Williams, who has a team-leading 1,507 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns on 75 receptions this year, had seven receptions for 62 yards against Cincinnati, a game in which the Crimson Tide hardly needed to pass the ball thanks to the rushing efficiency.

“It’s not something you can replace, someone like Metchie, just someone that you can just plug someone else in and get the same from. It definitely hurt,” Young said. “But at the same time, again, it creates opportunities for others.”

Metchie, a junior, took over as the Alabama Crimson Tide’s No. 1 wide receiving option this year and did not disappoint. But the onus now falls on others to contribute. And if the win over Cincinnati was any indication, Alabama should be just fine, thanks to contributions from Williams, four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown from Ja’Corey Brooks and three receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown from Slade Bolden.

“I have tremendous confidence in everyone at the position just being able to work with them throughout the week and seeing the work they put in,” Young said. “It’s tough, but as Coach said, it’s an opportunity for people — it creates opportunity when something like that happens. It’s just having the next-man-up mentality.”