Roman Harper admits 'shock' that Bryce Young, Will Anderson will play in Sugar Bowl

Former Alabama star Roman Harper shared his surprise at the recent announcement that Bryce Young and Will Anderson will play in the Sugar Bowl. The pair of top-level NFL draft prospects will play in the final game of their season instead of opting out and focusing on their upcoming professional careers — a decision that shocked Harper as he discussed the decision on the Paul Finebaum Show.

Roman Harper on Bryce Young and Will Anderson playing in their bowl game

Harper wasted no time jumping in to the topic when asked about it on Wednesday, cutting in as Finebaum mentioned that people around the nation were surprised to hear it.

“Me. Shocked,” added Harper, saying he was one of those people. “And reasons for, I just didn’t know — I just assumed, just like everybody else, when you don’t play for a championship you just don’t play. Your star players don’t.

“But, I’ve gotta give these guys a lot of credit because… kind of like what Nick Saban said last year. Remember after they lost the national championship game, these two young men were on the podium with him and they were about to get up and leave and he said ‘hold on, hold on, I wanna say this in front of everybody.’ And he really gave them their flowers then so that he might not have to do it this year if they don’t win it all, which they’re not. And so now, he told them how proud he was of them. How much he’s seen them grow as players, how much he’s seen them grow as leaders.

“And now for them to go out there when they have everything in the world to lose and say ‘no, you know what? I want to be a better teammate. And I want to play and I want to help us get a win, it means this much for my team and what it would mean for me to be talking about working out or training for tomorrow’s success when I could still help my team today. Really means a lot. And I was totally shocked. I thought they had maybe less than a two percent chance to play.”

Alabama fans were definitely excited to hear that Young and Anderson would finish the season out in the Sugar Bowl against Kansas State on New Year’s Eve. With no path to the College Football Playoff and a national championship as outlined by Harper, the pair of young stars are risking their potential first-round draft positions in their effort to finish the season with a bowl win. As Harper highlighted, the decision is a testament to their commitment to the Alabama program and their teammates.