Had Steve Sarkisian never returned to Alabama, Bryce Young would likely be tossing passes at Southern California this season. The former Crimson Tide offensive coordinator was key to the five-star quarterback’s recruitment, drawing the Pasadena, Calif. native to Tuscaloosa, Ala. with a system that mirrored the one he successfully operated at Mater Dei High School.
Young originally committed to USC in July of 2018, seven months after Alabama hired Sarkisian as its offensive coordinator. Following Carson Beck’s decommitment from the Tide that February, the former USC head coach quickly got to work on rebuilding his relationship with Young, a former target of his during his most recent stint with the Trojans from 2014-15.
At that time, Alabama wasn’t even on the five-star quarterback’s radar. However, by the September of the following year, Young had announced his commitment to the Tide, primarily thanks to Sarkisian’s hard work.
Two years later, Young is finally set to take on the starting role behind center at Alabama. However, he will have to do so without the man who enticed him to travel halfway across the country as Sarkisian left the Tide this offseason to take the head coaching job at Texas. Instead, Young’s emergence onto the college scene will be led by first-year offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, someone who less than a year ago the quarterback didn’t know from Adam.
“It really has been a super smooth transition,” Young said during a Zoom call with the media Thursday. “When O’Brien first came in, I didn’t know him previously, didn’t have any relationship with him. I knew the experience he had, I knew he was from the NFL, knew he had all this title. When he came in what really shocked me was how open and how humble and how well he articulated everything to me.”
O’Brien has had previous success at the college level, earning the “Bear” Bryant Award in 2012 while leading Penn State to an 8-4 season amid NCAA sanctions. However, his reputation was primarily forged at the professional level. O’Brien comes to Alabama after serving as the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014-20. Before taking the head coaching job at Penn State from 2012-13, he spent five seasons with the New England Patriots, serving as Tom Brady’s quarterback coach from 2009-10 before taking over as the offensive coordinator in 2011.
While that success intrigued Young, the sophomore admitted Thursday that there was a slight concern that O’Brien’s NFL pedigree would lead to a pigheaded approach at Alabama. So far this offseason, the coordinator has displayed the complete opposite.
“A lot of times you think of people in the NFL and you think, ‘Oh, they’ve done it at the highest level, they might come in and think they aren’t going to work with anyone, they’re just going to do it their way,’ but he’s super receptive to everyone in the quarterback room and everyone with offensive ideas,” Young said. “He’s obviously super knowledgeable and he’s really taught me a lot. That’s been really good for me and my growth. Being able to have those conversations, have that relationship was something that was really good for us as an offense and me individually and I’m super excited to keep working with O’Brien in the future.”
O’Brien has also been complimentary of Young, calling the sophomore “a very bright young man,” stating that he works very hard and is a great teammate. Earlier this month, the coordinator spoke about the importance of building a good level of communication with his quarterbacks while stating that he wants them to be able to develop into coaches on the field.
“There has to be a trust developed,” O’Brien said. “Not only a trust of me trusting the quarterback but the quarterback trusting our offensive staff and me that we’re putting them in the right position to make the right decision. It’s a two-way street when it comes to trust, and that’s why that position is so much fun to coach.”
So far, that chemistry seems to be coming together just fine.
“You can tell the progression that the quarterbacks have had going forward, especially the whole offense in general, but specifically about the quarterbacks,” offensive lineman Chris Owens said of O’Brien last week. “All of those guys have grown, whether it’s pre-snap, post-snap decisions. He really breaks down everything that we need to do, and then he relies on us to go out to the field and execute it. And he holds us accountable for it.”
When asked to describe his play-calling style earlier this month, O’Brien stated that he plans to take a game-by-game approach, emphasizing that this year’s attack will still be Alabama’s offense, just with a few of his wrinkles added in.
“I’m not really into labels,” he said. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for Alabama and this football team.”
That’s another approach he seems to share with his new starting quarterback.
“My goal is to really craft my game around what we need as a team, whatever Coach O’Brien or Coach Saban wants me to do, that’s what I’m going to do,” Young said. “I’m someone who tries to work hard on and off the field and really I want to do whatever it is that’s best for the team. Whatever the gameplan is that Coach O’Brien or Coach Saban has laid out for us, that’s what I'm going to try my best to execute.”
