Urban Meyer discusses the challenge for Nick Saban with Bryce Young shoulder injury
Alabama lost their star quarterback Bryce Young in the second quarter of their most recent game against Arkansas, and it is still unknown if he’ll be able to play in their next matchup versus Texas A&M. Backup quarterback Jalen Milroe took the reigns for the remainder of the games and led Alabama to a 49-26 victory with some impressive play with his legs.
Former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer assessed Alabama’s current quarterback situation on the most recent episode of Urban’s Take with Tim May, and was asked about the importance of catering to the skillset of whoever is under center for Alabama’s offense.
“That’s exactly it and that kid took your breath away when he started running, Bryce wasn’t that kind of runner, but he still ran. Nick Saban is a smart coach, they have an excellent coaching staff, they’re going to do what that quarterback does well,” Meyer said.
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Meyer is no stranger to a situation like this, as he secured the 2014 National Championship with three different starting quarterbacks throughout the season.
“The question I have is who’s behind him now?” Meyer asked. “You know when Braxton Miller went down and then also JT Barrett, we had no idea he’d become as good as he was, and then the guy behind him ended up winning the national title, a guy named Cardale Jones.”
Playing a quarterback with less experience than your starter always presents challenges, as Meyer pulled back the curtain about the specific challenges being faced by Alabama’s current coaching staff at the moment.
“So it really challenges the play caller about not putting that quarterback in harm’s way, because I don’t know what’s behind, I image there’s a good player, but this other quarterback here seems to be electric on his feet, that would always be in the back of our mind as coaches,” Meyer said.
Based on Meyer’s experience, the Crimson Tide will be having to think one, two, or even three steps ahead heading into this weekend regarding their quarterback position, as they’ll have to factor in the play style of every quarterback on their roster that could potentially play under center for this Saturday.
“Especially when Cardale Jones became our quarterback, we didn’t run him very much, firstly he’s not that kind of player and second of all the next quarterback on our roster at the time was a kid named Jalen Marshall, who was a wishbone quarterback in high school,” Meyer said. “And here we are trying to make a great run in ’14 and if he goes down we’re running the wishbone, sprint out pass, that’s all we’d practice because that’s all he can do.”
Young’s status may be unknown, but if he does play, there’s no question what Alabama’s offense will look like, as his style of play and ability to run their offense is known. But if Milroe or even freshman Ty Simpson end up playing at all, expect to see a different style of offense catered to the skillset of each player.