USC Football: Former Trojan commit Bryce Young opens up about decommitment to Clay Helton, staff

There was a point in time where Bryce Young was actually committed to USC for over a calendar year. Those who wavered in his pledge to the Trojans were vindicated when he decommitted from USC and re-pledged his school allegiance to Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Well, just this week, at the Maxwell Football Club’s annual awards ceremony, Young opened up a bit about his decision to spurn USC and head east to Tuscaloosa.

“I just wanted to do what was best for me, football-wise,” Young told the USAToday in an interview. “I felt that Alabama was the best fit for me.”

“It was somewhat difficult facing the fact that I’m not going to be going to school 20 minutes from my house. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to do what was best. It wasn’t really too big of a deal. It was, for me, whatever I could do to put myself in the best position.”

Well, there ya have it. The term ‘opened up’ about his decommitment can be taken in a multitude of ways. For Young, opening up was staying politically correct about his decision. Hard to fault a kid for wanting to do what is best for him, and honestly, with the way the transfer portal has worked over the past two seasons, if this was his thought process behind the scenes, he would’ve likely left LA for greener pastures at the first sign of distress.

Enrolled in classes as of January 6 at Alabama, Young has a chance to land the starting quarterback spot for Saban and Co. but would have to beat out Mac Jones and Taulia Tagovailoa to do so. The former Mater Dei star certainly has all the talent and would have been a cornerstone to the USC recruiting class but instead goes down as a backyard flop.

Young did expound on what he expects in his first year at Alabama as well during the dinner:

“It’s just to carry out whatever the coaches want from me,” Young told the USAToday. “I just want to maximize myself and listen to my coaches. Really, for me, it’s whatever the coaches ask of me. I’m just trying to get better and push myself to be the best I can. Just listen to the coaches. They’re not going to steer me wrong.”

Read into that what you will — but that certainly does seem like a kid who knows what he wants out of a coaching staff and could fuel the fire of those who thought perhaps he left USC amid current head coach Clay Helton’s much-maligned tenure and whether or not he’ll last past the 2020 season.

Regardless, we at Conquest Chronicles wish you the best, Bryce, just certainly not on September 5.