"Bryce young vibes": Football fans react to Texas enrolee KJ Lacey being honored with a coveted Alabama football award 

Texas early enrollee KJ Lacey has solidified his high school legacy by earning Alabama’s prestigious Mr. Football award. The Saraland High School quarterback becomes the latest standout from the program to claim the honor, continuing a dominant three-year streak for the Spartans.

The Mr. Football award places Lacey among Alabama’s all-time greats, joining past winners like Bo Nix, JaMarcus Russell, Julio Jones, and Carnell Williams. His success has drawn plenty of buzz.

“Bryce Young vibes,” one fan wrote on Instagram.

"Crazy number one QB out of Texas goes to Alabama number one QB in Alabama going to Texas," another fan wrote.

Image via Ig@hayesfawcett3

"Shit I might go for 2k with Ryan Williams out there against some future UPS workers," one fan wrote.

Image via Ig@hayesfawcett3

"He’s only a 4 star though ... he clears Keelon Russell," another fan wrote.

Image via Ig@hayesfawcett3

Lacey follows in the footsteps of Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams, who won back-to-back Mr. Football titles in 2022 and 2023—the first player in state history to do so.

During his senior season, Lacey threw for 3,042 yards and 40 touchdowns, completing 62% of his passes despite missing two games. His performance propelled Saraland to a Class 6A state championship and he was named the Class 6A Back of the Year.

Reflecting on the achievement, Lacey expressed gratitude for the support he received.

“It’s been great. It’s saying something about Saraland the program is really good,” Lacey said. It was crazy. All of the people that were here supporting me … it was crazy. Just the flashbacks to what happened at Saraland, everything that’s been going on."

Texas enrollee KJ Lacey leaves behind dominant high school legacy

KJ Lacey capped off an extraordinary high school career with 132 touchdown passes and a 39-3 record as Saraland’s starting quarterback. Over three seasons, he led the Spartans to three consecutive Super 7 appearances, securing the 2022 Class 6A state championship.

As a senior, Lacey completed 185 of 299 passes, throwing for 3,042 yards, 40 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He surpassed 3,000 passing yards in each of his final three seasons.

“We’ve been the best in the state for three years, at least with the record,” Lacey said. “I feel like Class 6A is the hardest division out of high school and we consistently did what we did and I feel like that shows.”

Now at Texas, Lacey will compete with Arch Manning, a redshirt sophomore expected to start.

“I’m watching how he leads the team, how he does his stuff,” Lacey said. “He’s a really good leader. He leads by example the whole time. There’s never a time where Arch is like just fooling around or anything like that. He always has the energy up. Everybody always talks about how he is the athletic Manning and you can tell he has the swagger.”

Lacey concluded his high school career with 10,985 passing yards, just 40 yards shy of breaking the state record held by Piedmont’s Jack Hayes. His playoff numbers were staggering—3,846 yards and 39 touchdowns.