Alabama freshman QB practicing and working out with JuJu Smith-Schuster, other NFL players

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Hours before participating in what would have been his first practice at Alabama, Bryce Young saw his spring plans put on hold.

After joining the Crimson Tide in January, the freshman quarterback was well on his way to living up to his five-star fame. In less than three months, he had added roughly 20 pounds to his 6-foot frame, bulking up to 197 pounds. The new weight was accompanied by growing confidence in the film room as the right-hander was quickly soaking up Steve Sarkisian’s offense.

However, Young’s much-awaited Crimson Tide debut was put on hold as Alabama’s spring practice was wiped out by the COVID-19 outbreak. Now his pursuit of landing the starting quarterback job at Alabama won’t take place in Tuscaloosa but rather 2,000 miles away in his hometown of Pasadena, Calif.

“He’s very disappointed, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Young’s father, Craig, told BamaInsider. “But I think he’s more disappointed because he felt prepared. He was meeting with teammates, going over the script, and he was ready to go out there and compete. He felt like he had a pretty strong early period where, as an early enrollee, he felt he was doing well in the strength and conditioning and in the film room, and this was kind of his chance to get on the field and show what he can do.”

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Bryce’s plans might have been altered, but his drive and determination remain unshaken. Despite dealing with the limitations caused by social distancing, the freshman still finds himself making major strides towards grasping Alabama’s offense.

The return home has reunited Bryce with longtime trainer Chris Flores of Sports Training and Rehabilitation Services. It has also put him back in contact with an elite company on the practice field. Flores works with several professional athletes in Southern California and has paired them up against Bryce in practice since the quarterback was in the sixth grade.

Recently, Bryce has been throwing to Pittsburgh Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster as well as former West Virginia star Kevin White, who was drafted No. 7 overall in 2015 by the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, Bryce’s opposition has consisted of current Los Angeles Chargers defensive backs Derwin James and Desmond King II.

“The idea is to challenge him mentally,” Flores told BamaInsider. “He’s running his offense against those defenders, so that pushes him even more. There’s that mental challenge of knowing you’ve got to make your read faster, get the ball in there faster. You have to go through your drops. You’ve got to time it up, hold guys with your eyes. It’s really his ability to do it all.”

The accumulation of talent isn’t the only thing preparing Bryce for the next level. While he is unable to train with his new Alabama teammates, the freshman quarterback has been able to further familiarize himself with the Crimson Tide’s offensive attack. Flores, who shares a relationship with Sarkisian from his time at the University of Southern California, is familiar with the offensive coordinator’s schemes and has implemented them into Bryce’s daily workouts.

“We know the playbook and are able to simulate that playbook,” Flores said. “Then, the biggest part of it is we’re actually running his offense. He has to come out, call the play and then line up everybody where he wants them, give them the routes he wants and then really running it and simulating all of it. It’s kind like a crash course into this offense.”

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Understanding football concepts is one thing, but Bryce will still need to pair that with reps on the field. That’s become a bit harder this week as Pasadena has closed down its football fields in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

As of now, Flores said he is still able to train with groups of three to six people and has Bryce scheduled to throw with Smith-Schuster again in the coming days. Both Flores and Taylor are also able to meet the quarterback for one-on-one workouts.

The other obstacle in Bryce’s regimen is maintaining his weight despite not having access to Alabama’s training facility. While the university is not allowed to monitor players’ workouts, new strength and conditioning coaches David Ballou and Dr. Matt Rhea have sent along the team’s weight program which provides athletes with a structured workout to follow if they choose. Players have also been provided with Apple Watches which help track workouts and monitor heart rate and sleep patterns in order to aid in recovery.

In addition, the Young family has met with team nutritionist Amy Bragg who has sent along dietary suggestions for Bryce to follow back home.

“Bryce is in such great shape. Here, the challenge has been maintaining that,” Craig said. “It’s like man, Alabama’s doing such a good job of feeding him, now we have to maintain that. So our grocery bill has gone up a bit.”

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