Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson’s season of 'QB1' to air on Tubi

Three years ago, Bryce Young and Anthony Richardson were the main subjects of the fourth season of Netflix’s sports documentary series, “QB1: Beyond the Lights.” It chronicled their senior years of high school before they would go on to college at Alabama and Florida and later be drafted by the No. 1 by the Carolina Panthers and No. 4 by the Indianapolis Colts, respectively, this past April.

The season was filmed, edited and ready for release in the spring of 2020. But it never streamed after Netflix pulled it and the previous three seasons of the show. Complex and BuzzFeed Studios, who own the rights to “QB1,” shelved it while they searched for a home. There was no planned release for the unaired season, either.

Until now.

Tubi, a free television streaming service, will license the fourth season of the show from Complex and BuzzFeed Studios. All 10 episodes will air today on Tubi's platform.

For the show’s families, school and crew, the release of “QB1” season four is a sense of closure and excitement for something that they didn’t think would see the light of day.

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“When you have a project that gets shelved, it feels a little like something's left undone,” showrunner Rachel Libert told Yahoo Sports. “It kind of nags at you, especially when it's something you're proud of. So there's a certain sense of closure and completion that's very satisfying as a creator. And then similarly, just being proud of who Bryce, Anthony, and Deuce [Hogan, the third quarterback featured] are as people and proud of the stories that we captured. So there's also a certain sense of closure and relief that their stories can be shared.”

The season gives a rare glimpse into the past as to who some of the most exciting quarterback prospects were before they arrived on the college stage. At the time, Young was the heralded senior at legendary Mater Dei High School in Southern California who sought a third consecutive national championship, while Richardson was the homegrown quarterback who played down the road from the Gators’ stadium.

Both were already headed to their next chapters after the show finished production, but neither their collegiate nor their professional futures were known.

The deal came together over the past six months, according to Tubi and Complex, and gained momentum after Young and Richardson were taken in the top four of the NFL Draft in April. Tubi eventually picked the release date to precede Young’s and Richardson’s first NFL games in Week 1 of the preseason this Saturday. Young and Richardson are both expected to start for their respective teams when the Panthers play the New York Jets and the Colts play the Buffalo Bills.

“We see an opportunity to address an audience that's gonna be tuning in watching that game, but also asking themselves, ‘How did a young man so talented get to where he is?'" Sam Harowitz, Tubi's head of content acquisitions and partnerships, told Yahoo Sports. “And so availing season four right in time for the preseason and NFL season to start, I think is a unique factor and a unique element to this opportunity.”

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Tubi, and that 'QB1' will continue to find new audiences,” executive producer Pete Berg said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. “I am beyond proud of the show and our great team at FILM 45 that worked so hard capturing the soul and hearts of the culture of football, family and the very best of our beautiful country."

Young and Richardson also aren’t just the highest drafted players from the show, they’re two of only four to make it to the NFL among the 12 quarterbacks to be featured. The others were Justin Fields from season two (No. 11 to the Chicago Bears in 2021) and Jake Fromm from season one (fifth round in 2020 to the Bills). Sam Hartman and Spencer Rattler, who were on the second and third seasons, respectively, are still in college at Notre Dame and South Carolina.

“It's exciting to me that folks will get to know them better and all the hard work that they did, that they put in to get to where they are today,” Libert said. “I feel like that just makes their NFL stories that much more powerful.”

As Steve Clarkson, who co-created the show, puts it, Young and Richardson’s season gives a blueprint for success for aspiring quarterbacks still in high school. Clarkson is also a personal quarterbacks coach in California.

“We did a pretty good job guessing who had the opportunity to get to that point, because it's not easy,” Clarkson told Yahoo Sports. “You really can take an ‘anything is possible’ approach and if you just put your mind to it and with a little luck, it's achievable.”

The immediate future of the fourth season of “QB1” is Tubi, but it’s unclear if the other three seasons will be released or if a fifth season will be created. That will all depend on how this season is received by viewers, Tubi said. There has recently been a proliferation of sports documentary series, though, especially football-related ones like “Quarterback” on Netflix and “Hard Knocks” on HBO, throughout the streaming landscape.

“People want real stories they can advocate for and they can watch it at their own time,” Clarkson said. “And that's what makes programs like this really unique and captivating.”

This season, at least, unearths a time capsule for two of the most intriguing quarterback prospects in the NFL.