Alabama Football Seeing Strong Leadership from Jalen Milroe

The redshirt sophomore quarterback has become an important leader for the Crimson Tide offense.

Austin Hannon | Sep 20, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Monday afternoon, Alabama head coach Nick Saban did something very unexpected.

After starting the Crimson Tide's first two games against Middle Tennessee and Texas, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jalen Milroe didn't play a single snap against USF on Saturday in Tampa, Fla.

Instead, it was Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson that led Alabama's offense throughout the game — which ended in a mostly uneventful 17-3 win.

On Monday, Saban named Milroe the starter for the 13th-ranked Crimson Tide's SEC opener against No. 15 Ole Miss at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Through three total starts, including one against Texas A&M in 2022-23, Milroe is 39-for-64 (60.9%) for 560 yards and eight passing touchdowns — he has thrown three interceptions, including the two that sealed Alabama's loss to the Longhorns.

"Jalen really showed the leadership that I was looking for during the game in terms of supporting his teammates and doing the things he needed to do," Saban said on Monday. "He's had the opportunity to play. So have the other guys. Jalen played the best of all those guys, so I think he's earned the opportunity to be the quarterback. [...] He’s played the best of the quarterbacks, and that’s the way it is right now."

During Saturday's victory over the Bulls, Milroe showed a lot of support for Buchner and Simpson while restrained to the sideline — something that Saban was very pleased about after the game.

"He did a great job. He really has been supportive of his teammates, and I was happy to see that," Saban said on Saturday. "And hopefully, we’ll all learn lessons from the experiences that we have and move forward in a positive way."

Milroe's teammates have seen that leadership quality for a while.

"He always stays involved, and he's been doing a really good job with that," wide receiver Jermaine Burton said. "So as long as he continues to do that, I think he's gonna be a great leader."

"Vocal leader. Leads by example," running back Roydell Williams said. "He also talks in the locker room, encouraging everybody. Being able to talk to those guys is key. We’ve got a lot of young guys on the team now and going to the locker room is very important."

Not every quarterback can bounce back from a benching. It's has an effect on you mentally. But Milroe is handling things differently.

"I know a lot of guys in that position, at a lot of different levels but especially as the starting quarterback at Alabama — once you lose that job, it does something to your confidence and your morale," offensive tackle JC Latham said. "He took it on the chin. He knew what he had to do to be better, and he never brought negative energy, on or off the field."

"He's held himself accountable. He's held all of us accountable. He did what he had to do. It was a great example of what a leader is and what a leader needs to do through adversity."

Now that Milroe has been chosen as the team's signal-caller, the Crimson Tide needs to revolve its offense around his strengths. Arm talent and strength itself are two of Milroe's best characteristics as a football player.

"Dual threat. Mentally he’s there, physically he’s there," Williams said. "Strong, fast, has a strong arm. Overall, he knows — he stays in the meeting room — he knows what he’s doing. All those guys do."

"Jalen is strong. He can really throw that thing far," Burton said. "And yeah, that boy’s strong. [...] "I ain’t gonna lie. I ain’t gonna put a number on it, but dude, we be playing around in the indoor, and he be launching that thing. So I don’t know. But it’s far bro."

Now that the quarterback distraction is out of the way, perhaps Alabama can establish its identity as an offense, beginning this week against Pete Golding and the Rebels.

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