Nick Saban breaks down the Alabama quarterback room, praises Bryce Young for leadership

All eyes are sure to be on Bryce Young in 2022 after his Heisman Trophy season last year. But Alabama has other talented quarterbacks in that room, and Nick Saban broke it all down in a press conference on Thursday.

Jalen Milroe is back for his sophomore campaign after appearing in four games as a freshman while Ty Simpson comes in as a highly touted recruit. He was a five-star prospect and the No. 25 player in the nation from the class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

But Young remains the focal point, and Saban praised his leadership heading into training camp. That said, he thinks the other quarterbacks are coming along well, too.

“The quarterbacks have worked really hard,” Saban said. “Bryce has done a really, really good job from a leadership standpoint as well as understanding the offense. Lot of confidence in what he’s doing, making good decisions. I think he sets a really good example for the other guys.

“I think Jalen Milroe has made a significant amount of progress. We still want to continue to work with him. And developing Ty [Simpson], as a young player who’s in the developmental stage, but we’re pleased with the progress he’s making. I think everybody’s got a really good attitude if you’re asking about mindset and I think everybody’s really working hard to try to get where they’d like to be and where we’d like for them to be.”

Nick Saban defends comments made about 2021 being ‘rebuilding’ year

Saban previously said the 2021 Crimson Tide football team was one that was “rebuilding” even though quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy — the first quarterback in Alabama history to do so. Alabama also won the SEC Championship and came up just short of winning the national championship.

With criticism of the comments coming from all corners of college football, Saban defended his comments, following up on the discussion when asked during a press conference Thursday afternoon.

“I don’t understand what’s so hard to understand,” Saban said. “We were young, and [this year], we should have nine starters back on offense and nine starters back on defense. That’s the point I was trying to make … So – as we usually have to do – we have lots of rebuilding to do again this season. That’s the point that I was trying to make.

“I don’t think our standard is like everybody else’s standard, but when you have a lot of young players playing, you’re actually trying to rebuild so those guys get the kind of experience you need so they can play at the level you need to play.”