Bryce Young

Early life

Young was born on July 25, 2001, at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. He grew up mostly in Pasadena, California, and is the only child of Craig Young, a mental health therapist, and Julie Young, a former special education teacher who played college soccer at Cal Poly Pomona. His maternal grandfather was born in Mexico.

Young attended Cathedral High School in Los Angeles before transferring to Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, in 2018. As a senior at Mater Dei, he was named the Los Angeles Times Player of the Year, California's Gatorade Football Player of the Year, and the USA Today High School Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 4,528 yards and 58 touchdowns. He finished his high school career with 13,250 passing yards and 152 passing touchdowns. A five-star recruit, Young was ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 2 overall prospect and No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the 2020 class. After initially committing to USC, Young changed his commitment to Alabama in September 2019.

Young became friends with C. J. Stroud while both were high school quarterbacks in Southern California. They were selected first and second overall, respectively, in the 2023 NFL draft.

Freshman year

During his freshman year at Alabama, Young was the backup to junior quarterback Mac Jones throughout the 2020 season. On September 26, 2020, Young made his collegiate debut in the late third quarter against Missouri at Faurot Field. That night, Young went 5-of-8 for 54 passing yards with two rushing yards on four attempts. On November 21, he threw his first collegiate touchdown pass in a 63–3 victory over Kentucky. Young appeared in nine games in 2020, finishing the season with 156 passing yards and one touchdown.

Sophomore year

On September 4, 2021, Young made his debut as the Crimson Tide's starting quarterback. In a 44–13 win over the #14 Miami Hurricanes, he passed for 344 yards and four touchdowns.

On November 20, against Arkansas, Young threw for 559 yards to break the Alabama school record for passing yards in a game. He had five touchdowns in the 42–35 win. The previous record was held by Scott Hunter.

Young won the Heisman Trophy following the end of the 2021 season, becoming the first Alabama quarterback to win the award. In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Young won AP Player of the Year, the Davey O'Brien Award, the Manning Award, the Maxwell Award, Southeastern Conference (SEC) Offensive Player of the Year, and was a consensus All-American.

Overall, Young passed for 4,872 yards, 47 passing touchdowns, and seven interceptions to go along with three rushing touchdowns in 15 games. He led the SEC in passing yards and passing touchdowns in the 2021 season.

Junior year

Young started his junior season off strong with 195 passing yards and five passing touchdowns to go along with five carries for 100 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the 55–0 victory over Utah State. In his junior year, Young led the Crimson Tide to an 11–2 record, including a 45–20 victory over No. 14 Kansas State in the 2022 Sugar Bowl. He finished in sixth in Heisman Trophy voting. He passed for 3,328 yards, 32 passing touchdowns, and five interceptions to go along with 49 carries for 185 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in 12 games. On January 2, 2023, Young announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2023 NFL draft.