Alabama quarterback Bryce Young was named one of eight standouts at the Massing Passing Academy in Thibodaux, La. It is the 26th annual event hosted by former Ole Miss and New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning. His sons Peyton, Eli and Cooper Manning serve as associate directors.

“An on-air passing competition at the Manning Passing Academy does not fully showcase Bryce Young’s skill set, but the reigning Heisman Trophy winner still had one of the better showings, in our opinion,” said Charles Power of On3sports. “Young has natural accuracy and made easy work of the 18-yard comeback. Some of the other quarterbacks were tight while throwing in front of a sizable crowd, but Young was loose in relaxed. He’s not going to impress from a size perspective like some others, but the arm talent registers in the top group among those in attendance.”

Young became the fourth Crimson Tide player to win the Heisman trophy in 2021. He set school records for passing yards (4,872) and touchdowns (47) in a single season, but the junior quarterback isn’t interested in personal accolades.

Young has spent the offseason with only one goal in mind — winning a national championship. This week he was asked what motivates a Heisman trophy and he responded, “We lost.”

The Alabama signal-caller has shown the capability to put a team on his back. Despite being sacked seven times in a game against Auburn, Young managed to engineer a 97-yard drive with 1:35 remaining and no timeouts to tie the game. He tossed a touchdown and converted twice on two-point conversions to help guide the Tide to a 24-22 victory in four overtimes.

The very next week, Young put together a performance for the ages in the SEC Championship Game. He threw for 421 yards and accounted for 461 yards of total offense, both were a title game record against a Georgia defense that ranked first in passing and scoring defense.

The Alabama signal-caller enters the 2022 season fueled by what happened the second go around against the Bulldogs. Young made his fair share of big throws but was ultimately consumed by an aggressive front seven from Georgia. He was sacked four times, hit 10 times and hurried 26 times. According to Pro Football Focus, Young was pressured on 44.3 percent of his drop backs. He was picked off twice, including a 79-yard pick-six that sealed the game for Georgia.

After the game, he was quick to focus on the areas he should have better at.

“They switched up some stuff, had different tendencies, and I have to process that faster,” he said. “Just make the right play for the team better than I did tonight, so they changed some things and I wasn't able to execute."

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Young claimed every award for a quarterback in 2021, but the California native had a long list of things he wanted to improve on in the spring.

“[I’m] trying to do a better job of communicating with all my guys and making sure that we’re on the same page whenever I’m changing something or there’s something that may not be as clear,” he said. “And then, of course, now it’s a lot about trying to build chemistry, timing with guys around me and making sure that we’re all on the same page. And there’s a lot of stuff I want to improve on just, you know, the regular stuff of accuracy and all that.

“There’s a really long list for me. I feel like there’s a lot of stuff once I’ve gone back and I’ve looked at the games. I feel like there’s a lot of stuff that I can do better and I want to improve on.”

The Crimson Tide will have a changing of the wide receiver position this season. Jameson Williams, John Metchie and Slade Bolden are off the NFL, but the Tide gained Jermaine Burton and Tyler Harrell via the transfer portal. Traeshon Holden, Ja’Corey Brooks, JoJo Earle and Christian Leary round out the receiving core. The Tide also returns tight end Cameron Latu who caught eight touchdowns this past season.

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