Bryce Young, five-star quarterback from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, signed his letter of intent with the University of Alabama on Wednesday. There were plenty of rumors of a possible flip. Alabama's recruitment, throughout the entire process, led Young and his family to believe the school 2,000 miles away was the best decision.

Craig Young, Bryce's father, opened up about the recruiting process. He talked about what happened in the final weeks prior to his son signing with Alabama. He also discussed how quickly things changed once the regular season ended and shared the pressures, stress and difficulties of reaching a life-changing decision.

ICYMI: Alabama Crimson Tide: Early Signing Period superlatives

“It’s good to have that part of the journey be done," Craig Young said about signing day. "I think the recruiting journey has its ebbs and flows. What a lot of people don't understand about recruiting is not only do college coaches recruit, but they also coach.

"There are times during the season when they are really focused on the season, focused on winning games and coaching their guys up. Then, there are periods when that slows down. They are able to recruit more really during the bowl period and right before signing day especially when coaches can come do in-home visits. They are really focused on recruiting then.

"That means anyone you have talked to previously, even before you committed, are coming back after you again. Coach Sark (Steve Sarkisian) and Coach Tino (Sunseri) were in constant communication with Bryce. Other programs, especially those in the Pac-12, started intensifying their recruiting efforts.

"You have to remember Bryce was committed to SC for more than a year. He was recruited heavily before he committed to SC by programs like Oklahoma and Washington. Alabama had expressed some interest. When he committed to SC his recruitment slowed down a little bit. Oklahoma stayed in a little bit of contact. Washington continued to recruit him hard."

Alabama landed a big quarterback commitment from Jake Fromm in 2015. He decided to de-commit from Alabama after area recruiter Kirby Smart accepted the head coaching position at Georgia. Fromm committed to the Bulldogs. Former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin went after a gunslinger in Hawaii by the name of Tua Tagovailoa.

Tagovailoa, during his freshman season, replaced Jalen Hurts in the second half of the national championship game to lead the University of Alabama to an amazing come-from-behind overtime victory over the Fromm-led Bulldogs. Alabama reeled in a commitment last summer from four-star quarterback Carson Beck. Beck opted to re-open his recruitment after the Tide’s former offensive coordinator, Mike Locksley, accepted the head coaching job at Maryland. The former quarterbacks coach, Dan Enos, left for Miami as offensive coordinator.

Alabama hired Steve Sarkisian from the Atlanta Falcons. Bryce Young attended a camp at SC when he was in the eighth grade. The two briefly met and spent some time working together, but the relationship was distant. Coach Sark joined the Tide's staff, and Young became the No. 1 target for Alabama.

"Things changed with Alabama once Coach Sark arrived," Young’s father said. "They had a quarterback who de-committed, Carson Beck. The relationship with Sark began, and it was more of Coach Sark getting to know us. We were pretty firm to SC. The more we were talking to Alabama there started to be some more instability with SC. Alabama started to make more sense.

"After we de-committed from SC, we didn't really open things back up. We went right to Alabama. That stopped schools from recruiting him, and then his season really started. Bryce had a really great season. As his season continued he was putting up great numbers against really good competition. He was playing in high-profile games and some were on ESPN. The attention skyrocketed especially after the St. Frances (Baltimore) game. Every school started calling again and trying to gauge his interest."

It was easy to see why coaches didn't want to stop recruiting Young. He played for one of the top high school programs in the country. He completed 294-of-409 passes for 4,528 yards and 58 touchdowns. He also added 357 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns.

His career stats were also eye-popping with 13,250 passing yards with 152 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions. He played two seasons at Mater Dei High School and two seasons at Cathedral High School. He had 1,084 yards rushing and 26 touchdowns. His final career totals were 14,334 yards of total offense and a quarterback rating of 134.3.

The accolades haven't stopped. He was named the No. 3 overall player in the Rivals100. The California Gatorade Player of the Year, USA Today Offensive Player of the Year, LA Times Player of the Year, OC Register Player of the Year, National Quarterback Club QB of the Year and the Trinity League MVP.

"It really intensified," Craig Young said. "It got more intense from a bunch of difference schools. Obviously, everyone knows about SC. A lot of other schools were calling, and I don't want to name all of them. I was literally getting calls from 8 in the morning until 8 at night. It was constant.

"It's not just coaches who are calling. You have all different writers calling you. I love you guys, but there were a lot of calls coming in. There are the two main recruiting outlets, Rivals being one of them. It's a national guy and regional guy calling. Then it's a reporter from whatever school they cover. They are trying to address rumors because they might be hearing that their school is still talking to us. It just becomes a lot.

"Bryce never considered holding off from signing early. Bryce is highly competitive. He is going to compete and wants to compete right away. You want to get there as soon as possible. That really outweighed everything. Bryce was always very clear in where he wanted to go.

"Other schools call, and they want to talk to you. This is a relationship business. You talk to coaches and hear them out. It doesn't mean you are flipping. That's where the misconception and rumors start.

"You just don't dismiss coaches because situations change. Those coaches end up at different schools or they may end up in the NFL. You maintain those relationships. You are professional about it. That doesn't mean you are going to that school. It's like a coach getting a call from a coach at another university asking them to talk. They don't just hang up the phone. They are going to listen and hear them out. So that's the flip side of it.

"But, before we signed did we as a family take some time and say let’s pray on this and make sure this is what we want to do? Of course we did. That's what you do when you are making a life-changing decision. There was a never a time when Bryce was in jeopardy of not coming to Alabama."

Alabama didn't panic when others were trying to flip Young. The Crimson Tide remained steadfast in its pursuit and the in-home visit from Coach Saban helped ease any doubt about a decision to go elsewhere.

"I wouldn't say things changed a lot," Young said when asked about Bryce's recruitment by Alabama. "Alabama, Coach Sark and the staff did a really good job the entire time. They never stopped communicating. They were always checking in with Bryce or me. They didn't just get him to commit and say, 'see you in January.' That's how you lose recruits. Alabama didn't do that.

"We weren't talking to Coach Saban every day, but there were times when I would have a call with Coach Saban and then he flew in and did the in-home visit. He met with the entire family- grandma, aunt and our extended family. Those are the things you do to build the relationship. When those relationships are built it can help withstand inquires and recruiting pitches from other schools."

Young confirmed USC was the biggest competition to Alabama which comes as no surprise. He mentioned other schools did its best to try and get Bryce on campus for an official visit. One school in particular, Georgia, asked the Youngs to come in for an official visit the weekend prior to signing day.

Georgia mentioned keeping the visit quiet. The Young family decided it was best not to take even a 'quiet' visit to Athens. The Bulldogs signed former Alabama commitment Carson Beck, but considered adding a second quarterback. Georgia was also a finalist and considered in the top two for Ohio State signee CJ Stroud.

"Nothing is quiet in recruiting," his father said. "They (Georgia) did ask us to do it, but we declined. "Nothing is secret in recruiting, so we said no.

"He (Bryce) is a California kid. He was committed there (USC) for over a year. The campus is literally 25-30 minutes from our home. It’s a storied program. We have great relationships with those coaches. I can’t say anything but great things about them.

"The best place for Bryce is the University of Alabama. We as a family believe that. We are very happy and very proud of Bryce for his courage and to not do what is convenient. He is going to what we feel is the best program in the country, and he is going there to compete.”

How to handle the recruiting process especially for a high-profile recruit?

"It's tough," Young said. "You have to take time where you dis-associate yourself from all of it. When it got really crazy Bryce turned his messages off on his phone. The only texts he would answer were from me and his mom. So then that turned into all the coaches calling me since they couldn’t get in touch with Bryce.

"You have to have time in the day where we turn the phones down, we connect as a family and don’t talk about football. We watch movies, we get something to eat, we watch basketball. Basketball is a big outlet for us as we are big Lakers fans. You do other things.

"You take into perspective this isn’t forever. Once you sign you are focused on football. We always told Bryce at the end of the day it’s a performance-based thing. All the attention isn’t the goal. The goal is excellence. The goal is to be excellent and to excel. The attention is not our motivation and what drives us. It’s just part of it.

"One of the things we want parents to understand- parents sometimes want to complain about the rankings, stars, not getting enough attention or not getting enough love. Sometimes you have to be careful with what you wish for.

"There is a part of that where there is a huge amount of responsibility that comes with that, a huge amount of scrutiny. Sometimes a loss of privacy and a lot of pressure that comes with that. Understanding the other side of that. Bryce really focused on what’s important, which is faith, being a good person and for him just working really hard to be the best person and football player he can be. A lot of the other stuff is just noise, and you have to block it out."

So did it ever cross Craig Young's mind a year ago that Bryce would possibly sign with Alabama?

“No, didn’t expect it," he stated. "I am not going to lie. I didn’t think it. It’s tough that your son is going to be leaving. I am so proud of him. It means he is all-in. His dream is he wants to win a national championship, his dream is to play at the next level. What better program to go to than Alabama?

"He wants to play at the highest level- he did it in high school and will continue that in college. To forego palm trees and sunshine for Tuscaloosa, which by the way is different, but an amazing place with amazing people, to do that I am very proud of his courage, conviction and his dream. I am fully supportive of that.”

Bryce's father gave his take on the best and hardest things about going through the recruiting process.

“The best thing about the recruiting process is the relationships you build with the coaches," Young said. "You get to meet a lot of good people. You get to be exposed to possibilities. It’s really a celebration and acknowledgement of all the hard work and success.

"The difficult part of recruiting, the flip side, is you get to know coaches. You can envision yourself as being successful in different scenarios and then having to say no to people. You disappoint people who you have grown to care about. That’s what’s difficult."

Craig Young knows who is son is. His son isn't just a highly-ranked recruit with high expectations. He will officially join the team on January 5. His father is proud of all of the accomplishments to this point. He wants Alabama fans to know exactly what they are getting in the five-star signee.

“They are getting a winner," Young stated. "They are getting someone who has won on every single level. Someone who is going to make the university proud. Someone who is going to be a humble, enthusiastic leader. Someone who will do anything for his teammates, his community and his family."

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