Young wins Heisman, while Nix graduates and enters transfer portal
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Photo from the Official University of Alabama Football Facebook page 
Photo from the Official Auburn University Football Facebook page
Talk about a news-filled Alabama-Auburn college football weekend. On Saturday, the Tide celebrated its 4th Heisman winner in 12 years. Meanwhile, 24 hours later, there was big news from the Loveliest Village on the Plains about the dreaded transfer portal.
Here are the details.
Bama QB Bryce Young, capped off a busy College Football Awards Week doing something legendary Quarterbacks and NFL Hall of Famers Bart Starr, Joe Namath and Ken Stabler and more recently superstar signal-callers Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones never accomplished.
He won the Heisman.
Class Act
Always a class act — here excerpts from his acceptance speech:
Thanking God and his Dad
“This is amazing. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I couldn’t be here. Through Him, all things are possible. I’d like to thank my dad for always being there for me. From Day 1, you’ve always been by my side. You’ve always been a supporter, more than just a father but a best friend to me. For that, I’m eternally grateful.”
A Team Award
“I’d like to thank my teammates. My o-line, for protecting me and allowing me to win an award like this. My receivers, running backs, defense for getting me the ball back. Everyone on the team. Whenever you can win an award like this, it goes as an individual award, but it’s a team award. I couldn’t do it without any of those guys. I’d like to thank Coach Saban. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for your guidance, and putting me in situations to be successful, and for us and the team to be successful. It really means a lot.”
“Not the Prototype”
“For me, I’ve always been someone who has been labeled as not the prototype. Being an African-American quarterback, being quote-end-quote undersized and not being that prototype, I’ve always been ruled out and counted out. People, a lot of times, have told me that I wasn’t going to be able to make it. And for me, it’s always been about not really proving them wrong, but proving to myself what I can accomplish. I always push myself to work the hardest, and try my best to do all I can to maximize all I can do. Thanks to the people around me, and through the grace of God, I’ve been able to make it here, and I’m truly grateful for that. Thank you everyone for coming out, and everyone watching at home, and have a great night.”
Young is the 4th Heisman winner in the Saban era and first quarterback.
Bo Nix Graduates and enters Transfer Portal
In other big football news across the state, approximately 24 hours after Young won the Heisman, Auburn’ Quarterback Bo Nix, a three-year starter, is leaving the team as a graduate transfer.
This is huge news — Nix, who suffered a season ending injury before the Iron Bowl made his announcement on Instagram. Here is his statement.
What’s Next
Both Auburn and Alabama have two games left in 2021.
Auburn will take on the University of Houston Cougars in Birmingham at the TicketSmarter Bowl on December 28th.
The Number one ranked Crimson Tide takes on Cincinnati for the Semi-Final Championship game New Year’s eve at the Cotton bowl in Dallas.
