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Bryce Young receives latest national Player of the Year award
By Keith Farner
Published:
Bryce Young has already won a slew of postseason awards as either the best player, or best quarterback in the SEC, or country. Now the Associated Press has handed him another one.
Young is The Associated Press college football player of the year, giving the Crimson Tide its second consecutive winner.
The Alabama quarterback, a sophomore and first-year starter, passed for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns, leading the top-ranked Tide to the SEC championship and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.
“Settling in and getting to play in different environments, getting to be put in situations, naturally, makes you more comfortable as leaders,” Young told AP. “It’s always about what you do in offseason, how you carry yourself, but any time you’re able to produce in big moments and you’re able to demonstrate a lot, that’s always a big part, as well. Because leadership is a lot about action.”
Young received 42 of 53 first-place votes from AP Top 25 voters and 137 points to easily finish ahead of Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (4 first-place votes, 67 points) for the AP Player of the Year honor.
Pittsburgh QB Kenny Pickett was third; Alabama LB Will Anderson Jr. was fourth; and Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud was fifth. Young, Huchinson, Pickett and Stroud are the finalists for the Heisman Trophy, which will be presented Saturday in New York.
The Tide will face No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 31 at the Cotton Bowl.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
