One of the great runs in the history of college quarterbacks will celebrate another first-rounder when Bryce Young’s name is announced on Thursday in Kansas City.

Here’s a stat. From the first touchdown throw of Jalen Hurts’ freshman season in 2016 to Young’s final scoring pass in the 2022 Sugar Bowl, Alabama’s four future NFL quarterbacks combined to account for an average of 52 touchdowns per season. That number is equal to the total number of touchdowns produced in 2022 by Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams of USC.

For seven consecutive seasons, Alabama football had a future NFL franchise quarterback running the offense for coach Nick Saban. Quick strikes and fast times. Hearts soared and hearts sank. There was a last-second national championship loss (2017 against Clemson), and a walk-off, overtime national championship stunner (2018 against Georgia). In total, it was a dazzling display of aerial excellence that cemented Alabama coach Nick Saban as the greatest ever, and it all came immediately after an era when Alabama running backs ran roughshod over the SEC.

As a sports reporter, it was an honor to have a front row seat for it all. As a sports fan, “2nd and 26″ was the most exciting moment. As a hopeless romantic, I’m not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes when Jalen Hurts came in for Tua Tagovailoa in the 2018 SEC championship game. Mac Jones gave us 2020, and I wrote a book about that wild season. Then there was Young, whose big moment is here with the 2023 NFL Draft.

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Young could be the first Alabama player to be drafted No.1 overall since jump-pass innovator Harry Gilmer in 1948. Gilmer wasn’t a tall guy, so he taught himself how to jump and throw. We do what we can. Young might be the shortest and smallest quarterback ever drafted in the first round, but he also might be the brightest.

“I’ve had classes with Bryce Young,” said fellow 2022 co-captain Will Anderson Jr. “He’s one of the smartest people I know.”

What was Young like as a classmate?

“Quiet and does his work,” Anderson said.

There was one person besides Saban in the quarterback room for Alabama’s entire run of throwing touchdown terror. It was Alex Mortensen, who is now a first-year offensive coordinator for UAB. Mortensen was a grad assistant at Alabama from 2014-2016 and then an offensive analyst from 2017 to 2022. Who better to explain what makes Young’s brain so special?

According to Mortensen, it’s Young’s ability to recognize patterns that sets him apart from his peers. Pattern-recognition testing is a new way for NFL teams to understand what makes good quarterbacks tick, and Mortensen says no one is better or faster at picking out patterns than Young.

Safety Jordan Battle, another 2022 permanent co-captain for Alabama, saw it all the time in practice. They couldn’t fool Young with anything. What’s going to make Young successful in the NFL?

“How he can break the game down and dice up a defense,” Battle said. “He would know some of our calls just based off our alignments in practice sometimes. His instincts in the game are going to get him far.”

In the spirit of pattern recognition, there are a few that stand out for me when it comes to the first-round of the NFL Draft and quarterbacks. Each one is unique. Each one has a special place in football history. In the beginning, there was Notre Dame, which produced five first-round quarterbacks from 1944 to 1951, including two first-rounders the first year following the end of WWII, 1946.

The second distinction of greatness goes to Oklahoma, which has produced a trio of No.1 overall draft picks: Kyler Murray to the Cardinals in the 2019, Baker Mayfield to the Browns in 2018 and Sam Bradford to the St. Louis Rams in 2010. Notably, though, none of those quarterbacks won national championships. The last OU quarterback to win the natty? It’s current Tennessee coach Josh Heupel (2000).

Then there’s Southern Cal. USC claims the most first-round quarterbacks of the 21st century (four). They are Carson Palmer (2003, Bengals), Matt Leinhart (2006, Cardinals), Mark Sanchez (2009, Jets) and, most recently, Sam Darnold (2018, Jets). Williams, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, will most certainly add to that list in 2024.

Next is a family tree of quarterbacking greatness all its own. We can’t talk about first-round quarterbacks without mentioning the Manning family, which has produced three first-rounders: Achie with the Saints in 1971, Peyton with the Colts in 1998 and Eli with the Giants in 2004. They’re called the First Family of Football for a reason. (No pressure, Arch.)

With Tagovailoa, Jones and Young, Alabama can now claim its own special quarterback dynasty. Young will give Alabama three first-round quarterbacks over a four-year span. It’s an unprecedented achievement. Will we ever see anything like it again? Not likely. In the history of Florida football, which was long considered the quarterbacking capital of the SEC, the Gators have have produced four first-round quarterbacks all-time. Tennessee, Auburn and Georgia: two each.

Who was the best of Alabama’s four dynastic signal callers? That’s a tough one. Each quarterback can claim different bragging rights of superiority. Personally, I’ll take Hurts for his comeback potential.

Tua had the best quarterback rating for his career (199.4). Mac is the only quarterback to go undefeated (13-0 in 2020). Bryce is the only one to win the Heisman Trophy. Jalen just signed a contract extension with the Philadelphia Eagles making him the highest paid player per season in NFL history ($51 million).

If Bryce goes No.1 overall, he’ll have that over everyone, too. I have a good feeling that the other three won’t let the latest Alabama first-round quarterback get too cocky, though. Jalen, Tua and Mac never lost to Tennessee.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama”, a book about togetherness, hope and rum. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.