Will Paul Tyson Follow His Great Grandfather's Shoes?

Credit: Sterling G via Flickr

Paul Tyson is the great-grandson of legendary Head Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Bear is recognized as arguably the best college football coach of all time, and to sum his coaching career up in a way millennials can understand, he was the Nick Saban of the 1900s.

While Bear was the Alabama head coach, he went 232-46-9 and won six national championships. Bear and current Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban are tied at six national championships while at Alabama. However, Saban does have one more while coaching the LSU Tigers in 2003.

Paul Tyson's High School Career

In high school, Tyson attended Hewitt Trussville High School. Throughout his career, he won 19 games while starting 24 games for the Huskies. While in high school, Tyson threw for over 6,500 yards, 69 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He was extremely accurate as he averaged a 68.2 completion percentage over his 24 games. This was enough to rank him 2nd all-time in terms of completion percentage for those with at least 500 pass attempts while competing in the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA).

Additionally, Tyson finished 14th in passing yards in one season at 3,392 yards. This was higher than players like Jamarcus Russell (3,332) and Jeremy Johnson (3,193). Tyson also just missed out on the top five for most completed passes in one game as he went 35-51 against Cedar Grove.

With a High School career full of stats, Paul Tyson chose to commit to The Alabama Crimson Tide in 2018.

After spending two seasons at Alabama, he rarely saw the field. In 2021, Tyson finally got some playing time against five teams, including #14 Miami and Auburn. However, this was not nearly enough action to stick around, so he entered the transfer portal.

Tyson's Desert Getaway

On January 11, 2022, Paul Tyson made his commitment to the Arizona State Sun Devils. With hopes of quickly moving up the Sun Devil's depth chart, things started looking a lot better as star quarterback Jayden Daniels left and eventually joined the LSU Tigers.

While it seemed as if Tyson would finally get the chance to be the man for the first time since high school, reality closed in quickly as Emory Jones would transfer in from the Florida Gators. During fall camp, Jones would eventually solidify his starting position over Tyson and Trenton Bourguet. For the fourth straight season, Tyson will be watching from the sidelines.

Tyson Feels The Heat in Death Valley

After the 2022 season, without ever seeing the field along with Head Coach Herm Edwards being fired, 5th-year senior Paul Tyson would again enter into the transfer portal. This time, he would choose to go play for some of the best coaches in the nation, head coach Dabo Swinney and elite offensive coordinator Garret Riley. Except, everyone already knows, this is Cade Klubnik's job to lose.

It doesn't end at Klubnik either. Behind Clemson's star QB, there is Hunter Helms and highly recruited, four-star, incoming freshman Christopher Vizzina. So, Paul Tyson left Arizona State, where he would once again have a chance to start for young incoming Head Coacswuinh Kenny Dillingham, just to come to Clemson to finish his career third, or possibly even fourth, on the depth chart? I'm not buying it.

For a Head Coach like Dabo Swinney to go and pick up a "depth" quarterback from the portal, after showing year after year he doesn't believe in using the portal, it seems like Dabo and Paul Tyson have bigger plans. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but don't be surprised if Dabo Swinney asks Tyson to join the staff after this season. Or maybe, just maybe, Coach Nick Saban comes calling to mentor him before retirement.