Bryce Young reveals the biggest challenge he faced at Alabama

Leading up to the NFL Draft, Bryce Young revealed the biggest hurdle he had to get over during his time playing for Alabama.

Today, the NFL Draft kicks off, and it marks a huge accomplishment in the athletic careers of so many young men taking the next step from the collegiate ranks to the pro levels of football.

While this weekend serves as a time of celebration, it won’t last long. The really hard work is just around the corner, and college players are going to have to face challenges unlike any other they’ve seen in their paths thus far as they play at the highest skill level of the game.

Teams, in assessing players, will be triangulating tons of data. How did they perform in college? What kind of competition did they face? One of the most important things to consider is how players have dealt with adversity both on and off the field, because the NFL can come with a lot of it.

Bryce Young talks about the biggest challenge he faced at Alabama

Bryce Young, widely expected to be Thursday’s No. 1 overall pick, spoke with Stacking the Box’s Sterling Holmes in Kansas City before the draft on behalf of Courtyard by Mariott. Here’s what he had to say on the topic of adversity and the largest challenge he’s faced in his football career thus far.

"“My freshman year of college. I never had not played before. I had been, just growing up, younger, I’d always one of the better players on the team. You’re just playing Pop Warner, you’re playing youth ball. Growing up I had never not started, never not played, you know, being the competitor that I was, my goal coming in was to try to earn a starting job as a freshman. I wasn’t able to do that. Obviously, it was for good reason, you know, Mac [Jones] had an amazing year and is an amazing player and everything, I feel like worked out the way it was supposed to be. So I’m grateful for how things played out, even though it wasn’t my goal at the time. It was definitely difficult, it was hard, it was something for me to adjust to.”"

Young said in the end, he was able to take a growth perspective on the challenge. “Looking back on it, I think it was really good for my development,” he said. 

The NFL Draft kicks off tonight, and fans in Kansas City can keep an eye out for Bryce Young and his teammate Will Anderson Jr. who gave away tickets to Courtyard’s VIP zone at the draft. For fans not lucky enough, the draft is a free-to-attend event.

Courtyard by Marriott is partnering with Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr. to spotlight the “Courtyard VIP Fan Zone” and consumer ticket giveaway for the 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City.