NEW ORLEANS, La. (WBRC) – “We have a 24-hour rule. I’m just excited to celebrate it with my players and that’s what I’ve been thinking about,” Bryce Young said Saturday at Alabama at Sugar Said after the overwhelming victory over Kansas State in the pot game.
Young and teammate Will Anderson will now have to make a decision about his immediate future as he considers playing in the NFL. The junior quarterback and Anderson are both projected to be first-round picks in the NFL Draft if they decide to enter.
“I want them to make the best business decision for themselves and their future,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said after Saturday’s game. “If you’re going to be a high first-round pick, the business decision is probably always best to go to the draft, unless you have some other reason to feel like you’re not ready for that.”
Saban also spoke about players opting out of the bowl game, an increasingly common trend in college football, in preparation for the NFL draft, saying players create value for themselves by playing football rather than opting out.
However, Young said it’s not for him to decide whether his five-touchdown performance in the Sugar Bowl added any value to him as a player.
“For me, it’s just doing what I can to help the team out,” Young said. “It’s a huge opportunity, I think, for us as a team, like the coach said, to try to prove something. It means a lot for us to end the season on the right foot. So whatever happens after that , are out of my control.”
Young finished the Sugar Bowl, catching 15 of 21 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns. If this is his last game at Alabama, it will end an incredible career in Tuscaloosa that included the Heisman Trophy.
Will Anderson, the first two-time All-American in Alabama history, said it was exciting to be out with his teammates on Saturday.
“Just the bromance there, I mean, it’s been amazing,” Anderson said. “I think that’s why I’m so emotional right now because of all these people, they have a special place in my heart. They gave me a lot of confidence. They believed in me so much. They helped me a lot. Than people know more.”
For both players, though, Saturday wasn’t about the future. Instead, Yang and Anderson emphasized two things: teams and standards.
“For us, standards are what we live by,” Yang said. “It’s not just something we can do once, or ‘We did this, we’re done with this, it’s over.'” It carries over to the future of the program, the future of everything. We have to live by it every day. “
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