Alabama Football: Three reasons Bryce Young won’t win the Heisman

As previously stated, Alabama football will be a different team in 2022 than it was last year. The defense was solid and Brian Robinson Jr. did as much as he could to provide balance to the offense, but the strength of last season’s team was clearly Bryce Young and his receivers.

All signs point to the defense and the running game being the relative strengths of this year’s squad, at least until the receivers get comfortable and the passing game find its groove.

I think Alabama will lean on its running game early while the defense stifles opponents. A deep stable of running backs and an offensive line that is expected to be improved should bolster a running game that ranked 10th in the SEC last season.

If the defense can perform up to expectation, Bryce Young simply won’t have to put up Heisman numbers. It’s important to remember that he won the award out of necessity a year ago. Against Arkansas, Young set a school record by throwing for 559 yards, and Alabama needed every one of them to win because the defense couldn’t get a stop. If he has to constantly out-duel opposing quarterbacks this year in shootout type games, something has gone drastically wrong.

Additionally, because Alabama football struggled to run the ball and because it played so many close games last season, Bryce was gun-slinging well into the fourth quarter. In 2022, he should be content to build early leads and be handing the ball off (or maybe even holding a clipboard) by that point in the game.