The news of the week wouldn’t be surprising for anyone around three years ago. Bryce Young’s time at Alabama officially ended at the podium Monday morning when announcing he’d be entering the NFL draft.

From that same microphone, Nick Saban in December 2019 said they “feel really good about Bryce Young” moments before noting “I absolutely love the guy” on early signing day.

Less than two years later, they’d both be in New York when the No. 2 player in the 2020 recruiting rankings won the Heisman Trophy. Again, given his pedigree and résumé, none of that would have been surprising.

The path taken, however, had a bit of a detour.

And while Young moved on to NFL draft training this week, he took a moment to reflect on the non-linear portion of his Alabama journey. This goes back to the spring of 2020 when the five-star recruit was preparing for his first spring practice. Tua Tagovailoa, the highest-rated Alabama QB before Young arrived, had just gone pro and Mac Jones was the only Alabama passer with meaningful experience.

The former 3-star recruit had an up-and-down 2019 after Tagovailoa’s various injuries forced him into action. Jones’ Iron Bowl performance spanned the spectrum but was solid in the Citrus Bowl win over Michigan. The arrival of a can’t-miss 5-star from Pasadena paired with recent history drove the fast-track storylines for Young. Only four years earlier, freshman Jalen Hurts won the starting job over a host of veteran backups, so could Young follow suit?

Well, no.

That’s where Young’s charmed ascent to Alabama immortality blew a tire. Just hours before Young was to take the field for his first spring practice, the wave of COVID-19 cancellations claimed that workout. And eventually the full 15-practice spring schedule.

In that vacuum, Jones used his experience and locker room connections to organize unofficial throwing sessions that didn’t hurt his candidacy. By September, questions about who’d be Alabama’s starting quarterback for the delayed pandemic season trailed off.

And for the first time, the phenom from the west coast was a backup. Young reflected on that Monday after announcing his NFL plan.

“It was a great experience for me. It was extremely humbling,” Young said. “I think that’s why I wanted to come here. Everyone comes here as a huge recruit. Everyone has options. Everyone comes in for competition — having things in your background but coming in together — and making sure you’re pushing each other. That’s why I wanted to come here and I think that’s what Alabama did for me. It allowed me to compete.”

Young eventually appeared in nine of the 13 games Alabama played in that dominant run to a national title. His first collegiate pass came in the third quarter of the opener at Missouri — a 6-yard completion to DeVonta Smith. He’d complete 5 of 8 passes that night for 54 yards. Like Tagovailoa at Vanderbilt in 2017, Young had his foreshadowing moment late in the win over Kentucky. It began with a 35-yard pass on a drive capped by his first touchdown on an 18-yard throw into a tight window.

DeVonta Smith caught both passes en route to the same Heisman Trophy that Young would claim a year later.

Young would throw just five more passes that season as Jones’ breakout season transformed for once-second-fiddle recruit into a first-round draft pick. His successor had a front-row seat as Alabama’s generational offense plowed through Florida for the SEC title and playoff wins over Notre Dame and Ohio State.

“Sitting my freshman year is something I haven’t done before,” Young said Monday. “It was hard. I’m a competitor and I want to play but it was a blessing in disguise but I think being able to learn from Mac to watch that offense and that team operate and being there for every step of that, it really helped me and ended up being extremely beneficial in my career. I trusted the process and I’m happy to be here.”

Of course, Jones was off to the draft the following spring and few doubts surrounded the 2021 Alabama quarterback competition. While his predecessor was an outspoken leader, Young took his time finding his voice while showing the pocket-passing skills that made him such a highly-rated recruit.

Will Anderson took a slightly different route to his Monday announcement for the draft. The Alabama linebacker was a Day 1 starter but he was close with Young since they played in a high school All-American game.

Anderson said he saw Young working behind the scenes in that freshman season.

“Bryce did a great job of handling it,” Anderson said. “He came to work every day. He worked hard. There wasn’t one day where Bryce slacked off. He was always working like his number could be called at any time.”

It was the mindset Young brought to the adversity that stuck with Anderson.

“Everybody had a ton of respect for Bryce because he wasn’t cocky,” the unanimous All-American linebacker said. “He came in humble. He worked his tail off and now he’s at the point where he can help him and his family out and I’m very proud of him.”

Now, both Young and Anderson are projected to be top-10 picks in the spring draft. A top-pick isn’t out of the discussion after three eventful seasons in Tuscaloosa.

Though brief, a humbling freshman season added a plot point to Young’s story that ended more predictably than it began.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.