Back-to-back: Young gives Alabama consecutive Heisman wins

Bryce Young didn’t just meet the standard set by the star quarterbacks who preceded him at Alabama, he exceeded it.

Young became the first Crimson Tide quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, making Alabama the fifth school with consecutive winners of college football’s most prestigious player of the year award.

Young received 684 first-place votes and 2,311 points to easily outdistance Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (78,954).

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett (28, 631) finished third and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud (12, 399) was fourth. Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr. (31, 325) was fifth, putting two defensive players in the top five for the first time since 1962.

Young has passed for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns, leading No 1 Alabama to a Southeastern Conference title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. The defending champion Crimson Tide will play No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 31 in the Cotton Bowl.

Wide receiver DeVonta Smith won last year. Young is Alabama’s fourth Heisman winner, all in the last 13 years under coach Nick Saban. Only four schools have won more in the 86-year history of the trophy: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Southern California each have won seven.

The other schools to have Heisman winners in consecutive years are Yale (1936-37), Army (1945-46), Southern California (2004-05) — though Reggie Bush’s 2005 victory was later vacated — and Oklahoma (2017-18).