Jumbo Package: Bryce Young makes it look easy, Drew Sanders is a Swiss Army knife

Happy Friday, everyone. Tomorrow night you have the Derrick Henry vs. Mark Ingram bowl to watch on CBS, which should be a great one even if the NFL will never truly be a substitute for college football. You know that Henry won the NFL rushing title, but probably didn’t know that he celebrated by purchasing Rolexes for the offensive line. Very nice.

Earlier I posted a video that I came across about Bryce Young, and these final notes from Charles Power over at 247sports are outstanding as well.

You could see it in the game, but Young is in my opinion the best high school quarterback right now and is the most ready-to-play signal caller in this cycle. His processing speed and accuracy to all levels of the field are the best in the class. The Alabama signee’s natural feel allows for the game to move in slow motion. We saw this during The Elite 11 Finals, throughout his senior season (he was the most productive 2020 quarterback) and again all week in San Antonio.

I can’t say enough how good Young looked throughout the week. The ball came out of his hand the most consistently of all the quarterbacks and I saw very few off-target passes. Young’s field vision is next-level. There was a sequence during the joint practice where his view was restricted (by a coach I believe) and he could still anticipate the wide receiver’s location despite not being able to see him. Young makes it look easy and should have little trouble adjusting to the speed of the college game this spring.

A Day can’t get here fast enough. It’s safe to say that Alabama fans are just as excited to see Bryce as they were Tua Tagovailoa, and that is saying something. We don’t yet know how the two will ultimately compare at the college level, but it is highly likely that Bryce will be more ready coming from a national powerhouse in Mater Dei. He has played with and against much better players than Tua ever did in Hawaii.

Drew Sanders is another guy to watch.

About Sanders: The five-star recruit won this award for the second straight season after helping a 15-1 Denton Ryan team outscore the opposition 790-181 and finish as the Class 5A Division I state runner-up. Sanders was named an Under Armour All-American, a second-team MaxPreps.com All-American, honorable mention all-state and the District 4-5A Division I co-MVP. He had 38 catches for 734 yards and 12 touchdowns, and he also served as a Wildcat quarterback and ran for 357 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 43 carries. As a defensive end, Sanders had 21 tackles for loss, nine sacks and scored one defensive touchdown.

He could play offense or defense at Alabama, but I am most excited to see him come off the edge. He looks to have a special burst, as does fellow signee Will Anderson who utterly wrecked things at the Army All-American Bowl. Add those two to the #1 edge player in the 2020 class in Chris Braswell and the pass rush may be a youthful one this season, particularly since all three are already on campus.

Joe Judge was recently hired by the New York Giants, and he was asked about working for Nick Saban.

“What I learned from coach Saban was not an individual lesson. What I learned from coach Saban was it’s important to address everybody not only on the what they have to do, but how it should look, what we’re going to do to get there and why it’s important. And what you find out when you’re coaching players, they’re not robots, and if they understand what the end result’s supposed to look like and why it’s important, normally those players are going to take the principles you instilled in them and in the game make a player’s adjustment, and you’re going to learn more from the players than they are as a coach because they’re going to find a better way to do it in the heat of the moment with a certain adjustment. As a coach, you have to have your eyes open enough to understand they’re making the correct adjustment. You have to find another way to teach it in the future to give multiple options.

Only one college football program has a coach that NFL coaches are asked about, folks. Maybe that’s because he keeps shitting churning out Pro Bowlers.

Nine Alabama alumni are now on the Pro Bowl rosters, with Cooper one of two added as injury replacements on Thursday. Indianapolis Colts center Ryan Kelly was selected to replace Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey on the AFC roster. Pouncey missed the regular-season finale because of a knee injury.

For those counting, this means that a full ten percent of the players on Pro Bowl rosters this year went to Alabama. Top recruits still choose other schools occasionally, but it’s tough to understand.

It turns out that Athletic Directors and NFL front offices are smart enough to realize that Joe Brady is getting a bit too much credit for another man’s development.

“My concern would not be age so much as doing it without Joe Burrow,” said an AD whose team faced LSU this year. “Maybe he’s responsible for Joe Burrow. Was Joe Burrow a special case? Or is he a master scheme guy who can make any quarterback better?

“Our coaches don’t think their play structure is that special. They think they have great players running the plays.”

It should also be considered that Burrow is in fact 23 years old and in his fifth season. That doesn’t take anything away from his season since he’s hardly the first fifth-year senior to play and he set records, but his individual development is the main driver of LSU’s success. Frankly, Brady would be smart to capitalize now, but if he ends up in Baton Rouge again it will be interesting to see what he has for an encore while Burrow is getting knocked around like a sock puppet in Cincinnati.

Gymnastics also kicks off tomorrow.

Dana Duckworth has been under some scrutiny in recent years. We will see how this season shakes out. This is a proud program that is accustomed to competing for national titles on an annual basis.

Last, Isaiah Simmons appears to be as dumb as the rock they rub over there.

“They say we don’t play anyone, but these teams are undefeated too, so do they not play anyone else, either? We played undefeated Ohio State and now we are going to play undefeated LSU. So, if they are beating all these teams really bad, just like we beat our conference bad, I don’t know if that necessarily means we don’t play anyone,” Simmons said. “Do they not play anyone, either? So, I see a lot of similarities, so you can take it how you want it.”

I don’t even know where to start with that one. Even worse, the writer agrees with his point and doubles down. Hoo, boy.

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.