Nick Saban: Alabama trying to protect Bryce Young from himself in return from injury

It looks like Bryce Young will be a game-time decision for Alabama’s game against Texas A&M this week, Nick Saban told ESPN Thursday night. But there’s a reason why the Crimson Tide are waiting to make a decision, and it goes back to the approach the team took with Young this week.

Young suffered a shoulder sprain last week against Arkansas and missed the rest of the game — a 49-26 Alabama victory. His status for this week remains in question as he works his way back, and Saban acknowledged it’ll likely take until warmups for a final call.

This week in practice, Alabama has been cautious with Young to, in a sense, protect him from himself.

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“Bryce is a great competitor. He’ll want to go out there and play the best he can,” Saban said on “Hey Coach and the Nick Saban Show” Thursday night. “But sometimes, you’ve got to protect players from themselves because they’ve got to be able to go out there and create value for themselves and be healthy enough to do it the right way.”

Saban confirmed Young practiced all week, but it was in a limited capacity. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner didn’t throw much, and Saban said that was by design to avoid making things worse. Depending on how things go leading up to the high-profile showdown vs. Texas A&M, Young could find himself throwing Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“The way we treated this from a medical standpoint is overuse would really set him back, so the longer we can go without him doing a whole lot of throwing, the better off we are,” Saban said. “Even though he has done some, the better off we are in terms of the healing process. We’ll see how it goes.”

Nick Saban: Decision on Bryce Young might not come until warmups vs Texas A&M

The biggest question around Alabama heading into this week’s game against Texas A&M is the status of Bryce Young after his shoulder injury last week. It sounds like that decision won’t come until game day, according to Nick Saban.

Saban told ESPN’s Chris Low Young hasn’t missed practice due to his shoulder sprain and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner wants to play in the big game. However, it’s going to come down to one thing: How much pain Young is in come game time.

“Bryce has been practicing, and all week, he’s been saying that he could play,” Saban told Low. “But that’s going to be a medical decision. We’ve still got some time, and I want to talk more to Bryce. He’s the only one who knows how he feels because it’s going to be a pain tolerance thing.

“He’s a tough kid and great competitor. We’ll see where he is on game day.”