Bryce Young: Winning has been everything, not personal awards

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young might soon have a Heisman Trophy next to his name. Young is one of four finalists for the prestigious award. But to Young, winning the Heisman doesn’t mean nearly as much as winning football games as a team.

“Winning the award — honestly, never. I mean, it’s always a dream,” Young said of the Heisman. “The award speaks for itself, you always know about it, so it’s a dream. But ironically, when you’re actually a college football player and it’s actually a possibility, that’s probably when I thought about it the least. For me, it was all about winning and all about doing whatever was best for the team. Honestly, I will say that is one of the big reasons that I went to Alabama.

“One of the big reasons why Alabama was always first for me. I knew I would never have to think or worry about individual accolades or awards or whatever. All I had to do was what I originally wanted to do and what I have always been doing, and that’s thinking about the team and trying to win. At a place like Alabama, when you get to play against the best and compete with the best, individual stuff kind of comes on its own, it’s not something you have to focus on. For me, being here is a huge honor. A huge blessing. It means a lot to me. But for me, the ultimate goal is for us, as a team to reach our goals and keep winning.”

The Heisman would be one of many individual accolades for Young

Young has thrown for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns with just four interceptions this season in his first year as Alabama’s starting quarterback. He is joined by Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud, Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, and Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett as the four finalists for this year’s Heisman Trophy.

If Young does indeed win the Heisman, he would become the first Alabama quarterback to ever win the award. When asked earlier in the week about this possibility, Young again took the opportunity to praise the players and coaches around him.

“Obviously it would be a huge blessing to follow the great quarterbacks that we’ve had, and to have this opportunity is a huge blessing and it’s something I don’t take for granted,” Young said. “But I also understand the reason behind it – and that’s us as a unit, us as a team. It takes all my teammates, it takes all the coaches, it takes this environment, just everybody that’s involved to go after an accomplishment like this. I’m truly grateful to be in the position that I am.”

The winner of the Heisman Trophy will be announced at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night.