Bryce Young addresses how he plans to improve coming off of Heisman Trophy win
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young walked into the SEC Media Days as the most decorated player in the building. However, after losing the 2021 National Championship game to Georgia, his motivation level is as high as ever.
The 2021 Heisman Trophy winner minimized the impact the game’s most prestigious award has on his future, calling himself an incomplete product.
“Winning the Heisman is obviously a huge honor but I also understand that it doesn’t entitle me to anything,” Young said. “It’s an award that celebrates one season that I had in the past, which is again an honor, but it doesn’t mean anything towards me moving forward, you know, it doesn’t entitle me to anything.
“Because of that, I don’t feel like I am where I need to be. I don’t feel like I’m a finished product by any means. There’s a lot of stuff that I want to keep getting better at. There’s definitely stuff for me to work on whether it’s individual stuff or stuff as a team to get better, so I’m working day in and day out to improve myself.”
Bryce Young finished the 2021 season with second-most touchdowns, second-most total passing yards and the seventh-most passing yards per game. His completion percentage, at 66.9%, ranked 20th in the country and is perhaps his biggest area for improvement heading into 2022 and year of draft eligibility.
Saban praises Bryce Young, Will Anderson at SEC Media Days
At SEC Media Days on Tuesday, Nick Saban acknowledged the impact Bryce Young and Will Anderson have — both on and off the field – at Alabama.
He also mentioned he doesn’t recall bringing back two players of their caliber in his time as a coach. Given Saban’s resume, it speaks volumes to the roles they play for the Crimson Tide.
“I don’t like to compare players, but to have two players that make such a significant impact on our team as those two guys, I don’t recall ever having a circumstance like that,” Saban said. “We’ve had some great impact players but never one on offense, one on defense of the caliber that these guys have been able to play on a consistent basis. But I think probably bigger than that is the impact that they have on the players around them. These guys set a great example, they’re players that other people on our team can emulate in a positive way because of the example that they set. These guys are very serving to their teammates in terms of they really do care about helping other people for their benefit.”
On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.