ATLANTA -- Nick Saban has coached 35 first-round NFL Draft picks and 59 consensus All-Americans, including four Heisman Trophy winners.
So when the Alabama coach singles out quarterback Bryce Young and outside linebacker Will Anderson for praise, it's especially meaningful.
"Well, I don't like to compare players," Saban said last week at SEC Media Days when asked about the pair of juniors. "But to have two players that make such a significant impact on our team as those two guys, I don't recall ever having a circumstance like that.
"We've had some great impact players, but never one on offense, one on defense, of the caliber that these guys have been able to play on a consistent basis."
Young won the Heisman Trophy last season when Alabama won the SEC championship with a 41-24 victory over Georgia, then lost to the Bulldogs 33-18 in a rematch in the College Football Playoff title game. He set Alabama passing records with 4,872 yards and 47 touchdowns.
Anderson won the Bronko Nagurski Award, presented annually to the nation's top defensive player, and had 341/2 tackles for losses totaling 148 yards, including 171/2 sacks.
Young won the Heisman Trophy voting over Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson, Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, who joined him in New York for the announcement ceremony.
Anderson finished fifth in the voting.
"Will is definitely one of the best players in the country, but I feel like he didn't get enough recognition last year," Young said. "I definitely wish he would have been in New York with me. I'm hoping for that in the future.
"Will is so disruptive and means so much to us. Everyone sees the output he has on Saturdays and how amazing he is on the field, but people don't see how hard of a worker he is.
"How much he means to us from a leadership standpoint. How much he helps bring along the younger guys. Also how good of person he is outside of the field.
"I'm definitely happy that I don't have to go against him on Saturdays."
Anderson figures to be among Young's chief competitors for the Heisman Trophy this season.
"It's just a joke between us," Anderson said. "Just respect between two great players. We joke about it all the time."
Young and Anderson said they're more concerned with winning a national championship than individual honors.
Losing in the CFP title game didn't meet the expectations for Alabama, considering the Crimson Tide have won six national championships since 2009.
"Being at Alabama, all you focus on is the team and winning," Young said. "We didn't get it done last year, and that's really the approach I'm taking.
"I definitely have a lot of motivation, a lot of fuel to [win a national championship], and I think we have that as a team.
"I think as a team it's making sure we do the little things right, that we're working together and trusting the process.
"That was big for us in the offseason. It's going to be big for us this season. It definitely adds fuel to the fire."
Despite Georgia's victory over Alabama to win the national title, the Crimson Tide are overwhelming favorites to win the SEC championship.
In media balloting at SEC Media Days, Alabama received 158 votes to win the overall conference championship. Georgia was second with 18.
"The biggest goal for our team is always to win the national championship, and we didn't meet that goal last year," Anderson said. "So last season was not the successful season that we wanted.
"All the blood, sweat and tears that we put into a season is towards getting to the national championship and winning it, and last year we got there and we did not finish the way we wanted to."
Young is among five returning starters on offense, and Alabama has filled holes with talented transfers including receiver Jermaine Burton from Georgia and running back Jahmyr Gibbs from Georgia Tech.
Burton had 53 catches for 901 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2 seasons with the Bulldogs.
"Every once in a while it has come up," Young said when asked if Burton has talked much about Georgia's national championship. "But he's with us now. I'm excited for him. We've already developed a lot of chemistry."
Gibbs rushed 232 times for 1,206 yards and 8 touchdowns and had 59 receptions for 768 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2 seasons at Georgia Tech.
"Jahmyr is super explosive, super dynamic, and he's really smart," Young said. "He understands the offense really well even in the short time he's been here. Right when he got here, it felt like he had been here for multiple years."
Bill O'Brien, a former NFL head coach with the Houston Texans, is back for his second season as Alabama's offensive coordinator.
"I love playing for O.B," Young said. "He's someone I feel like was really instrumental in our success on offense and my success individually last year.
"I think when he first got here, there was a bit of feeling out process, but we developed a lot of trust in the offseason and throughout the season. Now having last season under our belt, and us being able to go back and forth, I kind of know what he's going to call before he calls it. He knows what I like and what decisions I'm probably going to make before I make them.
"So my comfortability with him is something that's really big from a quarterback/OC perspective."
Seven starters return for Alabama on defense, but the Tide lost cornerbacks Josh Jobe and Jaylin Armour-Davis.
"The biggest challenge is how do we replace the corners that we lost, because corner is probably the one position that puts the greatest restriction on what you can do on defense," Saban said. "That's going to be a significant challenge for us."
Kyree Jackson and Kool-Aid McKinstry will compete for the starting cornerback spots along with Eli Ricks, a transfer from LSU.
Ricks was a freshman All-American for LSU in 2020 when he had four interceptions, but missed seven games last season after undergoing shoulder surgery.
"Eli Ricks is a guy that has started in this league," Saban said. "He has to, sort of, prove that he has a good understanding of what we want him to do, how we want him to do it and why it's important that way."
Young and Anderson not only are the top players on each side of the ball for the Tide, but Saban said they're also team leaders.
"They've contributed from a leadership standpoint probably as significantly as any leaders that we've had -- and we've had some really good leaders in our program," Saban said. "You couldn't ask for two better people.
"I've always said that when the best players on your team are really good people with great attitude and great mindset, it's really helpful to developing the type of team chemistry you need to have a successful team."
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NoneTide at a glance
2022 Schedule
All times Central
DATEOPPONENTTIME
Sept. 3Utah State6:30 p.m.
Sept. 10at Texas11 a.m.
Sept. 17Louisiana-Monroe3 p.m.
Sept. 24Vanderbilt*TBA
Oct. 1at Arkansas*TBA
Oct. 8Texas A&M*TBA
Oct. 15at Tennessee*TBA
Oct. 22Mississippi State*TBA
Nov. 5at LSU*TBA
Nov. 12at Ole Miss*TBA
Nov. 19Austin Peay11 a.m.
Nov. 26Auburn*TBA
*SEC game
LAST SEASON 13-2, 7-1 (first in SEC West)
COACH Nick Saban (183-25 in 15 seasons at Alabama, 302-86-1 in 28 seasons overall)
RETURNING STARTERS Offense 5, Defense 7
KEY PLAYERS QB Bryce Young, RB Jahmyr Gibbs, WR Jermaine Burton, LB Will Anderson, LB Henry To’oTo’o, SS Jordan Battle
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR Bill O’Brien
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR Pete Golding
SEC West title scenario
Stacked recruiting classes year after year mean Alabama is loaded with talent despite its annual heavy losses to the NFL Draft. Now the Tide also are bringing in plenty of talent from the transfer portal with players who want to have a shot to win a national championship. Alabama again is heavily favored to make the playoffs, which the Tide have done seven times in its eight-year existence.