Nick Saban says Bryce Young has been much better, looks more comfortable

With Mac Jones off to the NFL, it’s expected to be Bryce Young Time in Tuscaloosa. Young, a former 5-star recruit, was the only other quarterback to take snaps during the Crimson Tide’s national championship season.

Nick Saban noted in his Friday press conference that a freshman quarterback like Young would have received more snaps in a “normal” year as opposed to 2020’s all-SEC regular-season schedule. Appearing in 9 games, Young was 13-of-22 passing for 156 yards and a touchdown. Young appears to already be improving off of his limited freshman experience, according to the head coach.

“Probably didn’t play him as much as we wanted or would have liked to, a little bit because we were playing 10 SEC games and we didn’t have any other games that we could sort of work him into more,” said Saban after Friday’s first spring practice. “But I thought he did a good job. I thought, at times, he was feeling his way out there, not playing with the kind of confidence that we would like for him to play with, but it’s part of his development and he learned from it.

“He’s been much better in practice, like today. This was the first day we could actually throw, and I thought he did a good job of throwing.”

Friday was the first of 15 spring practices. Saban noted that Young already looks more comfortable than he did in the fall.

“He did a pretty good job and he looked a lot more comfortable sort of managing and executing the offense and playing fast,” Saban said of Young. “So I think that was really encouraging.”

SDS Staff

Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.