His size has been a significant talking point in NFL Draft circles, but Bryce Young may be the No. 1 overall pick.
Several NFL analysts, including an LSU alum, don’t care that Young is 5-10. Ryan Clark, an ESPN analyst, played defensive back under Nick Saban at Louisiana State University. He said Young has been that dude in college football since his first snap.
“Bryce Young has done nothing but been the best player in college football. … He’s going to get picked apart and critiqued going through this process because of his size, but when you cut the film on there is no dude in this entire draft like him.” —@Realrclark25 pic.twitter.com/QQZX1jFKdY
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 11, 2023
“If you have watched college football for the last two years, the dude is Houdini,” Clark said about Young on ESPN’s Get Up.
“If Bryce Young is two inches taller, we are speaking of him like Joe Burrow and Trevor Lawrence. Bryce Young has done nothing but be the best player in college football since he took his first snap two seasons ago against Miami. If you go back to the first half of that game, there is a tweet I put out. It says ‘With the first pick of the 2023 draft … selects Bryce Young.’ He was that good, that day. He’s going to get picked apart and critiqued going through this process because of his size, but when you cut the film on there is no dude in this entire draft like him.”
RELATED: ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Bryce Young going No. 1 overall to Panthers
Young proved he belonged in the Southeastern Conference from the west coast.
The California native totaled 8,200 passing yards and 79 passing touchdowns in two years as a starter for Alabama.
He won the Heisman Memorial Trophy in 2021, becoming the first Crimson Tide signal-caller to earn the honor. Young was a freshman on the Crimson Tide’s College Football Playoff National Championship team in 2020. He guided Alabama to an SEC Championship and a CFP National Championship Game appearance in 2021. Young battled through a shoulder injury in 2022 to push the Tide to an 11-win season, finishing with a 45-20 victory over Kansas State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. He finished his career ranking second all-time for passing yards (8,356), passing touchdowns (80), and total touchdowns (87).
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
