Alabama All In on Sugar Bowl
Alabama fans received excellent news on Friday regarding the team's Sugar Bowl matchup with Kansas State: Bryce Young and Will Anderson plan to play in the game, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.
Chris Low, also of ESPN, confirmed the report and added even more good news to go with it. He is reporting that Alabama is not expecting to have any opt outs at all for the game.
It was widely speculated that Young and Anderson would not play in the game due to them already being virtual locks for top-ten draft selections, a prestigious honor that comes with a massive payday. It seemed unlikely that either would be willing to risk suffering a major injury and jeopardizing that.
Alabama should be a heavy favorite over a very good Kansas State team that won the Big 12 and finished the regular season ranked ninth in the College Football Playoff rankings with Young and Anderson playing.
Young, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, finished the regular season with 3,007 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 64.1% of his passes. It was a substantial drop off from last year's production, but he lost his top two targets from 2021 and spent most of the season nursing an injury to his throwing shoulder that caused him to miss a game and a half.
Anderson continued wreaking havoc on backfields this year as he tallied 51 tackles and 10 sacks en route to a second straight consensus All-American selection, something he is the first Alabama player ever to be selected for.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl will kickoff at 11 a.m. CST in New Orleans, La. on December 31.