Byron Young reveals message to younger players after loss

No. 6 Alabama is doing a lot of soul-searching this week following a loss to Tennessee, with Nick Saban threatening jobs over the team’s recurring penalty problems and many members of the Crimson Tide trying to help right the ship. Defensive lineman Byron Young‘s message to younger players has been simple.

Details matter.

“It started before this week just trying to get everybody to do the little things,” Young said. “It really started last year, after we lost last year. I think that was one thing we got away from last year that led to us losing to Georgia.”

Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, close calls against Texas and Texas A&M apparently weren’t quite enough to get the message across. Even with the whole offseason emphasis following the Georgia loss.

Young doesn’t think it’s for lack of effort, but rather that players simply need constant reminders.

“Most of the guys have everything down pat, but sometimes people may forget,” he said. “So it’s not like, I don’t think it’s anything that people are intentionally not doing, I think it’s something that people might just not think about.”

Byron Young’s message to rally the troops centers on focus

Sounds simple enough, right?

So far, though, Alabama hasn’t been able to follow through. It was costly against a very good Tennessee team. Still, the Crimson Tide have everything to play for and a ton in front of them.

An SEC East loss does little to derail any of Alabama’s preseason goals. Not fixing the issues, though, certainly will.

“I think it’s just kind of been a continuous thing of getting everybody to do the little things,” Young said. “That’s kind of what we focused on all summer and it’s still kind of what we’re focusing on now. It’s just making sure they know what the little things are. Because some things it can be so small you might not even think about it. But for me, it’s something that I’ve been here for four years, so now I know exactly what I’m looking for, I know exactly what everything is supposed to look like. So it’s something I just try to show them what it looks like.”

He’s not the only one.

“It’s a lot of the upperclassmen,” Young said. “Me, Will Anderson, DJ Dale, Darrian Dalcourt, Jordan Battle, Bryce. A lot of guys that have just been here and done that.”