| NEWS Finebaum caller: Bryce Young 'way better' than Tua Tagovailoa- 247Sports

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During every broadcast of The Paul Finebaum Show, there's a call or two that defines the show and they're rarely from special guests. Finebaum's daily callers are a unique bunch, from SEC homers to fans of other conferences who chime in just to try and chide one of college football media's biggest entities.

Earlier this week, 'Mike from Kentucky' shared his two cents on Alabama five-star freshman Bryce Young, who many believe is going to challenge Mac Jones for the Crimson Tide's starting job next season. Mike assured Finebaum and listeners Young will be the best signal caller Alabama has ever seen and in fact, is more talented than outgoing record-setter Tua Tagovailoa.

No wonder Nick Saban gushed over the top-ranked player in the 2020 class per the 247Sports Composite during the Early Signing Period.

"Bryce Young is not only better than Tua Tagovailoa, he’s way better than Tua Tagovailoa,” Mike said, drawing pause from Finebaum during Monday's show. “Do you know that kid played the best talent the United States had to offer? I noticed him two years ago when he defeated IMG Academy. They’re a freaking four or five-star factory. They can’t even play for a state title they’re so loaded with talent.

"Bryce Young played 10 times the talent Tua did in high school and threw for over 100 more touchdowns. He is extraterrestrial good. All hell is coming to college football next year and he’ll be wearing Crimson and White."



Lofty expectations, eh? The Gatorade Football Player of the Year in California, Young led Mater Dei High School to the state title game this past season and finished second nationally in the high school rankings. As a senior this fall, the fie-star recruit completed 72.6 percent of his passes for 4,528 yards and 58 touchdowns with only six interceptions.

He also rushed 73 times for 357 yards and 10 more scores to account for 68 total touchdowns in 13 games. The 6-foot, 190-pound dual-threat quarterback finished his prep career with 13,250 passing yards and 152 passing touchdowns to go along with 1,084 rushing yards and 26 more scores.

He accounted for 178 total touchdowns under head coach Bruce Rollinson, who said Young is the “greatest quarterback in school history.” Young will get his share of reps as a true freshman in Tuscaloosa vs. Jones, the projected QB1 at this point heading into spring practice.

But there's a lot of time between now and Alabama's opener vs. USC.

“We don’t really want to place any great expectations on any of our recruits,” Saban told hosts Barton Simmons and Josh Pate during 247Sports' National Signing Day Show earlier this month. “Bryce is a talented young man. He’s got great competitive character. He’s a great person. He’s a good leader. He’s played in a very successful program.”
 
LOL. we will probably not see a better passer at Alabama in our lifetimes than Tua Tagovailoa. It is just hard to imagine that happening.
Certainly a different kind of QB with running abilities that are a big part of the game could be a different kind of "better" but not as far as passing goes.
 
LOL. we will probably not see a better passer at Alabama in our lifetimes than Tua Tagovailoa. It is just hard to imagine that happening.
Certainly a different kind of QB with running abilities that are a big part of the game could be a different kind of "better" but not as far as passing goes.
Well. Maybe ur lifetime. Mine, i have already beed to BD and watched Joe and Snake
Hope Tua has as much success at the next level as those 2
Will be difficult to exceed!
 
Bryce young will be the most naturally gifted qb to set foot on campus. Never heard any high school qb that called his own plays. Doesn't guarantee he'll be great , but with his character and the family he comes from I am not betting against him. He's already up to 190 since getting to school. CNS is gushing about him for a reason , not because he's talking coach speak about a recruit. That being said our offense is loaded to help whoever the qb is . ... whether it's Mac or Bryce
 
Well. Maybe ur lifetime. Mine, i have already beed to BD and watched Joe and Snake
Hope Tua has as much success at the next level as those 2
Will be difficult to exceed!
Did not see Namath or Snake play while they were at Bama or I was to young to remember (was born in 64). I certainly got to see them in the pro's and they were the real deal so it is understandable with your sentiment of Tua versus those two. Heck Namath and Snake are hall of famers.

With that said Tua has been the best since. Just wish we would have had more time to watch him slice and dice up defenses. On to the next young stud whoever that is... Hard to believe Young will measure up to Tua but it will not hurt my feelings if he does.
 
Well. Maybe ur lifetime. Mine, i have already beed to BD and watched Joe and Snake
With that said Tua has been the best since.
What jdpas says here still remains true.

we will probably not see a better passer at Alabama in our lifetimes than Tua Tagovailoa.
Joe, as much of a legacy as he has in football, isn't the passer or the quarterback we've seen with Tua. No matter what metric you use to judge the two—outside of Namath calling for a team to win the Super Bowl—Tua has proven he's a better QB. What Namath did in college is as misconstrued as some have while referring to Gary Hollingsworth's era. And, quite frankly, Namath's NFL numbers are not good.

The same applies to Stabler. Neither of these two guys hold a candle to Tua.

Geez, as just one example ...

PlayerTD'sINT's
Tua8711
Namath2420
Stabler1818

We could get into other areas like ratings, completion percentages, YPA, APC...no comparisons here.
 
What jdpas says here still remains true.


Joe, as much of a legacy as he has in football, isn't the passer or the quarterback we've seen with Tua. No matter what metric you use to judge the two—outside of Namath calling for a team to win the Super Bowl—Tua has proven he's a better QB. What Namath did in college is as misconstrued as some have while referring to Gary Hollingsworth's era. And, quite frankly, Namath's NFL numbers are not good.

The same applies to Stabler. Neither of these two guys hold a candle to Tua.

Geez, as just one example ...

PlayerTD'sINT's
Tua8711
Namath2420
Stabler1818

We could get into other areas like ratings, completion percentages, YPA, APC...no comparisons here.

I always take into context how the game was played back in the day. Nameth and Stabler played at a time when defenses were allowed to do barbaric shit.

If Tua played back in the 1960s, he'd probably be lucky to throw for over 2,500 yards.
 
I always take into context how the game was played back in the day. Nameth and Stabler played at a time when defenses were allowed to do barbaric shit.

If Tua played back in the 1960s, he'd probably be lucky to throw for over 2,500 yards.
Who knows how Tua would have done in the '60's. It wouldn't be impossible for him to have 2500 but you're right in that the game has changed.

Yet, even with the game changes, we're still looking at a huge disparity comparing these guys. As example, you've seen what Namath did in his three years listed above. In '64, the top ranked QB had a TD v INT ratio of 32-4. Now we're getting into AJ McCarron type numbers. We're in Tua's area. In that same era UK had a QB ranked higher than Joe (so it's not a conference thing either.)

The offenses have certainly changed. This past season there were around 50 guys out of FBS and FCS play that through for over 2500 yards. However, we're still looking at a the same things we're looking at today: TD vs INT's, completion percentages, etc.

If there's one thing I'll readily agree with you on is if you believe there is more QB development today than there was in yesteryear. That has its own caveats. In this case, a lot of QB's who were better developed. They weren't making the same number of mistakes and more accurate with their passes as the two we're talking about here.

Which brings me back to my original point. While both Stabler and Namath carry their legacies in football, when it comes to QB's at Bama we've not seen one as good as Tua. In fact, more than a handful of Bama guys with better resumes...and that's what makes JD's earlier post accurate.

I don't mean this to disparage a guy like Joe. It doesn't change my opinion that he's known as a Bama legacy based on what he accomplished in the league. Tua, already a Bama legacy, made his reputation at Alabama.
 
What jdpas says here still remains true.


Joe, as much of a legacy as he has in football, isn't the passer or the quarterback we've seen with Tua. No matter what metric you use to judge the two—outside of Namath calling for a team to win the Super Bowl—Tua has proven he's a better QB. What Namath did in college is as misconstrued as some have while referring to Gary Hollingsworth's era. And, quite frankly, Namath's NFL numbers are not good.

The same applies to Stabler. Neither of these two guys hold a candle to Tua.

Geez, as just one example ...

PlayerTD'sINT's
Tua8711
Namath2420
Stabler1818

We could get into other areas like ratings, completion percentages, YPA, APC...no comparisons here.

While I agree with your overall notion, you know you can't measure statistics now to 50-60 years ago. The game has changed, the technology has changed, the lifestyle is night and day. If that's the case you'd have 50 guys better than Babe Ruth in given categories.
 
What jdpas says here still remains true.


Joe, as much of a legacy as he has in football, isn't the passer or the quarterback we've seen with Tua. No matter what metric you use to judge the two—outside of Namath calling for a team to win the Super Bowl—Tua has proven he's a better QB. What Namath did in college is as misconstrued as some have while referring to Gary Hollingsworth's era. And, quite frankly, Namath's NFL numbers are not good.

The same applies to Stabler. Neither of these two guys hold a candle to Tua.

Geez, as just one example ...

PlayerTD'sINT's
Tua8711
Namath2420
Stabler1818

We could get into other areas like ratings, completion percentages, YPA, APC...no comparisons here.
Metrics dont apply when comparing 60s QBs with present day......so please dont try.....60s under Bear Bryant...and 2000s under Nick Saban......
Tua was so exciting to go and watch....he was incredible...
Got to remember to...Namath was mobile at first at bama....and even played D ( just an example of his athletic ability.)....
Namath not the passer...ridiculous....he picked Ds apart with incredible accuracy... and precision.... different type QB but.. he was every much thepasser...and QB
Havent had that feeling of excitement since Namath...(and to just a bit lesser degree ..Snake)...lots of great teams an players...none I thought more of than AJ....
But for pure excitement.....Nothing that exciting since Joe..
Bear was run run run til he letJoe lose....and Snake followed.....
For football coming out of 50s .....u really cant understand the excitement of a QB ike Namath..like Tua the last couple years...
My point... Terry....is I hope Tua has the sucess of Joe and Snake at the next level..
Will be hard to get there... he certainly has the ability...
 
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Did not see Namath or Snake play while they were at Bama or I was to young to remember (was born in 64). I certainly got to see them in the pro's and they were the real deal so it is understandable with your sentiment of Tua versus those two. Heck Namath and Snake are hall of famers.

With that said Tua has been the best since. Just wish we would have had more time to watch him slice and dice up defenses. On to the next young stud whoever that is... Hard to believe Young will measure up to Tua but it will not hurt my feelings if he does.
Certainly hope he does....andmake think..."Tua Who"....will be difficult..
And really not just his QBing....but his demeanor....who could not love Tua... ( well, other than a load of UGA fans)
 
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