Alabama QB Bryce Young Wins Heisman Trophy
College football's most exclusive club gained another member.
On Saturday, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was awarded the 2021 Heisman Trophy after a phenomenal sophomore season.
This comes only days following Young winning the Davey O’Brien Award (top quarterback) and Maxwell Award (player of the year). Young also reeled in honors such as SEC Offensive Player of the Year and AP College Football Player of the Year.
Young completed 314 passes for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns to four interceptions on the season, while also scoring three more touchdowns on the ground.
A tremendous performance in the SEC Championship Game against the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs that included 421 yards passing and four total touchdowns was merely icing on the cake.
You could say Young was prepared for the bright lights of New York City on Saturday night, as Young was the overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman before sportsbooks quickly closed their odds, as Young climbed up to as high as -3000 on some betting sites before the weekend.
Young was joined in New York City by fellow finalists Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and Michigan pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson.
With Young capturing the Heisman, Alabama is now the third school since 2000 to have back-to-back winners following receiver DeVonta Smith's successful campaign in 2020. Previously, there was USC (quarterback Matt Leinart 2004-running back Reggie Bush 2005) and Oklahoma (quarterbacks Baker Mayfield 2017-Kyler Murray 2018).
Christopher Walsh, publisher of Bama Central on FanNation, had this to say about Young prior to his victory:
"Bryce Young had the biggest performance, on the biggest stage, when he threw for 421 yards against the nation's top defense and dislodged Georgia from atop the rankings. The Bulldogs defense had given up seven touchdowns all season and he scored four (three passing, one rushing).
"But Young was the front-runner even before the SEC Championship Game. He had the Heisman moment, the last-second touchdown against Auburn. He tied the Crimson Tide record for passing touchdowns in a single season, and should easily top the yardage record with his next start.
"The scary thing is his numbers should actually be even better. Leading a revamped offense that has a new offensive coordinator and lost five All-Americans (DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris, Landon Dickerson, Alex Leatherwood and Mac Jones), plus the player who went before them all in the draft (Jaylen Waddle), opponents notched 35 sacks compared to 19 a year ago, and the receivers had a lot of dropped passes.
"My favorite statistic about Young is his completion percentage actually goes up on third and fourth downs. He's 68.5 percent on first downs, 65.0 percent on second, 71.7 on third and 75.0 on fourth. He has tremendous poise, especially for a sophomore."
Young is now the 10th quarterback since 2010 to win the Heisman Trophy, with the only non-quarterbacks to win the award being Alabama players (Smith and running back Derrick Henry).
He also joins Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, Mark Ingram and Lamar Jackson as the only sophomores to win the Heisman.
Young will next take the field in the College Football Playoff semifinal game against Cincinnati on Friday, Dec. 31.
He'll do so as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.