Photo: Marvin Gentry/Getty
The Crimson Tide’s Bryce Young has taken home college football’s highest honor.
On Saturday night, the University of Alabama quarterback was named the 2021 Heisman Memorial Trophy recipient — the first quarterback from the school to do so.
A 20-year-old sophomore from Santa Ana, California, Young is the 18th quarterback among the last 21 Heisman winners. As the fourth Alabama player to win the Heisman in 13 years, he currently holds the school’s single-game passing record with 559 yards tossed in Nov. 20’s face-off against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Young is no stranger to awards for his game play, having taken homeLos Angeles TimesPlayer of the Year, California’s Gatorade Football Player of the Year and theUSA TodayHigh School Offensive Player of the Year.
Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty
At this weekend’s Heisman ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Young told attendees, “Whenever you can win an award like this, it goes as an individual award, but it’s a team award.”
He continued, “It was big for me understanding the quarterback tradition and the standard that was being a quarterback at the University of Alabama. It was important for me to live up to that, to meet that standard.”
Young’s win is a fourth player under Alabama’s Nick Saban, which means the Crimson Tide head coach is now tied with late Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy for the most Heisman winners.
Last year, Alabama wide receiverDeVonta Smith took home the trophy, besting three quarterbacks: fellow Roll Tide teammate Mac Jones (who now plays for the New England Patriots), Clemson University’s Trevor Lawrence (now with the Jacksonville Jaguars) and the University of Florida’s Kyle Trask, whotook home a 2021 Super Bowl ring as one of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
According toUSA Today, 23-year-old Smith said of his teammate on Saturday: “I remember your first touchdown ever against Kentucky, Bryce. Little did they know it was just one Heisman throwing the ball to another Heisman.”
source: people.com
