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Bryce Young shares humorous story about Nick Saban from freshman year at Alabama
By Sydney Hunte
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Bryce Young joined Greg McElroy’s “Always College Football” podcast as the two former Alabama quarterbacks reminisced about their memories of Nick Saban in the wake of his retirement.
Young shared a story from a practice from his freshman year at Alabama in 2020 which happened toward the end of a 2-minute drill at the close of the session. He recalled “making people miss” before throwing a pass off his back foot to a receiver who made a catch downfield.
“We’re all going down and celebrating…I turn around and Coach Saban’s just staring at me, dead through me,” Young told McElroy. “Like, I was running around with the ball in one hand. He’s like ‘How many times have I told you about running around with the ball? You got to tuck the ball, keep two hands on the ball.’ … I’m like ‘Alright, yeah, yeah, you got it, my bad, my bad.'”
Young then brought up a game against Missouri that year, when he was called on in relief of Mac Jones late in the game.
“As I’m scrambling, someone comes from behind and sacks me and the ball comes out and I fumble. And right when I fumble, I look up and immediately make eye contact with Coach Saban. I can see him from the sideline, and he lets me have it on the sideline, and from that point forward, I was like, ‘Alright, I probably should have listened to him the first time’,” Young laughed.
Young ultimately went on win a national championship as Jones’s backup in that 2020 season before carving out legacy for himself that included a Heisman Trophy win in 2021 and a No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, just one of many players that thrived under Saban as he developed the Crimson Tide into the gold standard among college football programs nationwide.
.@_bryce_young shares an unforgettable Nick Saban story from his freshman year ?
FULL conversation: https://t.co/jIjJ2Q2XAa#RollTide | #NickSaban pic.twitter.com/FvKjbm6A4r
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) January 11, 2024
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
