Alabama Quarterback Bryce Young Wins Heisman Trophy
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young became the first quarterback in school history to win the Heisman Trophy Saturday night and the first underclassman since Lamar Jackson in 2016.
Young is the fourth Crimson Tide player to win college football's most prestigious award, all under the leadership of Coach Nick Saban. He joins Mark Ingram (2009), Derrick Henry (2015) and DeVonta Smith (2020). His win marks the fifth time a school has had consecutive Heisman winners.
On the season, Young has completed 68-percent of his passes for 4,332 yards, 43 touchdowns and posted a quarterback rating of 175.5. He also added another three rushing touchdowns on the ground. Young tied the Alabama single-season record for passing touchdowns in a season, set by Tua Tagovailoa in 2018 and is closing in on Mac Jones' single-season passing yards record (4,500).
Young has put together a number of Heisman moments this season. The sophomore quarterback quickly burst onto the scene against Miami, throwing for the most passing yards and touchdowns in a starting debut in school history. Against Tennessee, he became the first player with 350+ passing yards and two rushing touchdowns in Alabama history.
Late in the season, Young threw for a school record 559 passing yards and five touchdowns in the Crimson Tide's 42–35 victory over Arkansas. A record previously set Scott Hunter in 1969. The next week in the Iron Bowl, Young engineered a 12-play, 97-yard drive with 1:35 remaining and no timeouts to send the game into overtime. He would connect with John Metchie in the fourth overtime to give Alabama a 24-22 win over Auburn.
The California native cemented his place in history with a performance for the ages against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. He was the first player since Cam Newton in 2010 to have 300 or more yards of total offense in the first half. Young also set an SEC Championship record for passing yards (421) and total yards (461) against the No. 1 ranked defense in the country.
He claimed SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his play against Miami, Southern Miss, Tennessee and Arkansas.
“The season that he’s put together with this team with being the guy with a lot of injuries around him, to me, he’s what a Heisman player should be – the MVP of the team,” said former Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson. “He elevates everybody around him, has huge plays, can do a lot of different things and does it all year long, gets better all year long. He’s gonna break a ton of records. He’s just a phenomenal player and did it literally every play of every game.”
It has been a busy week for the Alabama quarterback. Young was named CBS Sports Player of the Year, AP Player of the Year and brought home the Davey O’Brien and Maxwell Awards. Young has also claimed SEC Offensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-SEC and First-Team All-American honors.
The Mater Dei product has surpassed any expectations placed on him before the season. The player legendary high school coach Bruce Rollinson called “the best quarterback in Mater Dei history” has more than lived up to the billing. He came for a program that produced other highly touted high school quarterbacks like Matt Leinart, JT Daniels, Matt Barkley, Max Wittek and others.
Young will celebrate this incredible accomplishment, but his focus remains on Alabama's matchup on Dec. 31 against Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl.
“Being here is a huge honor, a huge blessing. It means a lot to me. But at the end of the day, the ultimate goal for me is for us to reach our ultimate goal, and that is to keep winning.”