Alabama Quarterback Bryce Young Dazzles Crimson Tide Nation In His Debut
He's not Jalen, he's not Tua and he's not Mac but he may be better. Alabama sophomore quarterback Bryce Young became the first player in school history to pass for four touchdowns in his school debut while guiding the Crimson Tide to a 44-13 victory over No. 14 Miami in Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Young may be considered an undersized quarterback by traditionalists but the former 5-star recruit from California showed that his stature doesn't matter, directing the offense to near perfection. The Crimson Tide scored points on its first five possessions of the new season.
"It felt great. It felt great. Obviously any time there's offseason there's a lot of anticipation and, you know, you start to get a little anxious. But for us to get the first win out of the way, did some good things there's some stuff for us to improve on. You know, we get to put it up on tape, learn from it. Good start to the year but we know we have to keep working week in and week out," said Young.
Young got the Crimson Tide into the endzone for the initial touchdown of the 2021 season by finding veteran receiver John Metchie on a 37-yard touchdown pass. Young showed off mobility in the pocket and then impressive arm talent finding Metchie down the field on the move.
Young ended the day completing 27-of-38 passes for 344 yards along with his four touchdowns. Young found Cameron Latu for a 9-yard and 25-yard touchdown to take a 27-3 lead into the locker room.
Young wasn't done as he saved his best pass for his final touchdown. Young dropped back into his own endzone, hung in the pocket and dropped a dime right into the arms of Ohio State transfer Jameson Williams for a 94-yard touchdown.
The pair, playing in their first game together with the Crimson Tide, tied for the second-longest touchdown pass in school history just behind A.J. McCarron to Amari Cooper's 99-yard strike against Auburn in 2013.
Young kept the Alabama offense on track completing leading Alabama to first downs on 7-of-10 third down attempts while scoring on two of those passes.
"I think Bryce did really, really well. He's smart. Most people just look at the stats and say he was whatever he was for whatever he was for this many yards but you know he redirects the protections, he plays like a veteran out there," said Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
"We had one sack-fumble which you know something that we don't really want to have but really not all his fault that he doesn't get protected but I was really impressed with the way he played the game, the poise that he played with the command that he had, he kind of took what the defense gave and really directed the offense in a really positive way and when we had opportunities to make plays on third down and a couple other explosive plays he certainly did a great job of getting the ball to the right guy in the right time in the right place so I was really pleased."
Young's Alabama career is just getting started but with a strong showing in his debut expectations will go through the roof for the sophomore quarterback. Young will lead the Crimson Tide against the Mercer Bears on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 3:00 p.m. CT.