Alabama football: Will Bryce Young become Saban’s starting quarterback in 2020?

Can the freshman QB ‘steal’ the starting role at Alabama football?

The former USC Trojan commit aligned his allegiance somewhere new 8 months ago. And that “new” happened to be at Alabama football.

No one truly knows why Bryce Young chose to steer away from his hometown college, but as I put myself in the role of an Alabama fan, I’m just going to say that I don’t care!

And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Nick Saban doesn’t either.

All that matters is Bryce Young will be in Tuscaloosa for the 2020 season, competing for the starting role against the projected starter, Mac Jones.

But “projected” only goes so far in the realm of college football. We’ve all witnessed the infamous projected starter lose his gig to the highly touted incoming freshman, only to then hit the transfer portal the following offseason.

Now, I’m not saying that Mac Jones’ fate will follow that same trajectory, but I am saying that he should probably be a bit concerned having to compete against the 5-star Mater Dei standout. After all, Young has a lot more in common with Tua Tagovailoa than Jones does.

And Jones didn’t fair too well in 2018 or 2019’s off-season competition, did he?

But that may just be an over-generalization. Surely, Jones has improved since losing the QB competition in 2019.

You could also point out that the Miami Dolphins’ quarterback was a generational talent that would beat out 99% of collegiate quarterbacks.

And who’s even saying that Bryce Jones will be as good as Tua Tagovailoa? Not me!

Nonetheless, one would have to be the biggest Mac Jones admirer, or deeply in-denial to believe that Young stands no chance to start. Really, the freshman’s only downfall is his lack of experience.

We all know how to solve that problem.

Will Bryce Young be QB1 for Alabama football?

For the past four years, Nick Saban has moved in the direction of an RPO-based system- run, pass option.

For those who aren’t aware, run-pass option (RPO) means exactly what you think it means. The quarterback has the option to run the football or pass the football. His decision stems from instinct and the given look that the defense shows.

Historically, the RPO offense meshes well with quarterbacks who can pick up yardage with his legs and possess enough athletic intuition not to get his head taken away by a 6’4 250 pound linebacker.

It’s believed that the typical pocket passing quarterback is now becoming a dying breed because of this system.

A guy who primarily sets back in the pocket just won’t have the experience to protect himself from said 6’4 250 pound middle linebacker.

Example A:

Mac Jones’ toughness is underrated

He got right back up after this hit pic.twitter.com/yKkDtbmBtP
— Kyle Henderson (@BamaYoutube) March 28, 2020

If you couldn’t tell from this 7 second clip, running isn’t exactly Jones’ bread and butter. As a matter of fact, it’s a one-way ticket to the emergency room.

While I agree with Kyle’s title of the tweet, toughness alone won’t get the job done in SEC football. Yeah, it’s great and all, but there’s a lot more that goes into becoming a successful quarterback. Plus, toughness is only as good as the last hit.

Bryce Young on the other hand, has the athleticism and running competence to avoid these bone crushing hits. It truly pays to be a qwerty runner.

Example B:

https://twitter.com/QB1Mentality/status/1261737321172434945

It doesn’t take a football guru to see the difference in mobility here. Young isn’t bigger than Jones by any stretch of the imagination, but he knows how to avoid trips to the ER thanks to his versatility.

Also, the added ability just allows for so many other opportunities for your offense.

The Tide did manage to find a way to utilize Jones in other ways last season. Who’s to say that they won’t build the offense around him this season?

After all, Jones IS the better passer, right? ….

Well, it’s tough to say for sure. The only evidence we can look towards is Young’s high school tape and Jones’ 2019 Alabama football tape.

Rumor has it that Young is the better passer, but we can’t be for certain.

To add to this, his arm looks pretty strong and precise on film, but then again, it is called a highlight tape for a reason.

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There’s actually no way of knowing who the better quarterback is ’til the pads go on.

Until then, we’re kind of just stuck here analyzing.

It’s likely that Mac Jones will score first-team honors, but fall back to his bench warming role in the latter portion of the season. Let’s say week 6? Just enough time for the freshman to come in and show what he can do.

Then again, we could potentially see Jones earn the starting position and never look back. He has all offseason to prepare for this moment- a moment he’s been waiting for since 2018.

But given Saban’s past two quarterbacks, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him go with the younger, more elusive quarterback at some point during the season.

And my guess is, he will.