Bryce Young reacts to big performance in Sugar Bowl, winning MVP

Bryce Young could’ve ended his Alabama career with an Iron Bowl victory. A sure-fire first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, he opted to join his teammates in the Sugar Bowl Saturday — and he turned in an all-time performance in doing so.

Young went 15 for 21 passing for 321 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Crimson Tide to a 45-20 victory over Kansas State and win Sugar Bowl MVP. Now, he’ll likely turn his attention to the draft process, albeit a little later than he could have.

He didn’t think twice about opting out, as he told ESPN’s Tom Luginbill.

“Not too much, to be honest with you,” Young said of how much he thought about opting out. “I’m blessed to have the teammates that I do. These are my brothers. I got presented the opportunity play with them, and I couldn’t pass that [up].

“We pride ourselves in leadership, we pride ourselves in doing everything for the team and our standard, and I live by that. I was just blessed to have the opportunity that I did to play today and I’m grateful for the guys I have.”

Young has had quite the career in Tuscaloosa. He became the first Alabama quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy a year ago, led the Crimson Tide to the national championship and became the first quarterback in program history to have back-to-back 3,000-yard seasons — even despite missing time with an injury this year.

Young now caps off an impressive journey with a big Sugar Bowl win and winning the MVP award. He didn’t take any credit, though.

“I’ve listened to coach, I’ve been blessed to have the teammates I do around me,” Young said. “All the success that I have, whatever personal accolades come, I can’t do that without my teammates, without my coaches, my family and all the supporters. I’m really just grateful for everyone and also for the support of the fans and everyone in Alabama nation. … That’s the reason I am who I am.”

The bowl game didn’t start off strong, though, as Alabama trailed 10-0 at one point. But Young helped turn the offense around and get things rolling to the tune of five consecutive touchdown drives.

Once again, he said he didn’t do it alone.

“I think we trusted each other,” Young said. “It wasn’t always perfectly smooth, especially at the beginning. But through ups and downs, we’ve always leaned on each other throughout the year. Again, I have all the confidence in the world in my guys and we get one each other, we play for each other. When things aren’t looking too good, we know we can lean on each other and we did that today.”