Jalen Milroe Emphasizes Alabama's 'Attack' Mentality Ahead of Georgia Matchup

The Crimson Tide quarterback also revealed a new team motto in addition to the notorious "LANK" acronym.

Dec 2, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) leaves the field after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-Imagn Images / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

As we near the 100-hour mark until No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 2 Georgia in perhaps the overall biggest game of the entire college football season, several Crimson Tide players spoke about the upcoming heavyweight matchup on Monday.

This game marks a couple of season milestones as it is the first test against an SEC opponent and it's also the first battle against a ranked team, let alone one that is considered a consensus top-3 team in the country.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe has faced the threatening Bulldogs before as the Tide upset Georgia in the 2023 SEC Championship to end their 29-game winning streak, which landed Alabama a spot in the College Football Playoff.

On Monday, Milroe opened up about his past experience but also recognizes that Saturday will be played against a different Georgia team than last year. That said, he understands that the mindset must also diverge from the Tide's takedown from last season.

"The mentality of our group is attack," Milroe said. "Every rep that we have...attack. That's going to be so important through this game, through our hardship, playing a tough opponent is all about attack. Acknowledging that, it takes 60 minutes to win a football game and embracing the challenge. For all of us as a group, we just have the mindset of being starving. Just trying to attack every rep we have and maximizing every opportunity in four quarters. You never know when your opportunity presents itself to be successful, so it's all about the attack and that's been the message this week."

Last season, Milroe and former Alabama standout/current Detroit Lions rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold created the acronym "LANK" which stands for "let all naysayers know." Alabama was doubted early last season after a Week 2 loss at home to Texas, but the Tide won every other game in the regular season. The acronym gained notoriety with each win, most prominently after the victory over Georgia in the SEC Championship.

Milroe explained on Monday that the LANK term is still very much in use, but another expression has been embraced by the Crimson Tide.

"One motto we try to preach as much as possible is 'Prepare like you've never won before,'" Milroe said. "That's so key, you've got to hate losing more than you love winning. When it comes to the LANK mentality, it's more of an internal thing as far as 'How can we prepare for the best in the country?' 'How can we maximize the reps that we have at practice?' We're going to reflect on that and how we prepare for an opponent."

Milroe assured that this motto and mentality "never changes, no matter who the opponent is," but its usage is perhaps most vital ahead of Saturday.

An argument can be made that a theme of this matchup is "Unstoppable Force vs. Immovable Object" with Alabama's offense (sixth-most points per game in the country) and Georgia's defense (third-least points per game allowed in the country) being the headliners. However, Milroe believes the battle will be decided by the team with the best preparation.

"We love that so much because all the preparation that's been done in the dark, we allow it to shine on Saturday through our preparation," Milroe said. That's going to be so important when we play in these games when we reflect on our preparation. I learned when I was younger that if you don't rise to the occasion, you fall back to your level of training."

"I'm so excited for this group because we've just been preparing altogether. Our chemistry has improved so much. We just reflect and build and now that we've had three games to reflect on, we just acknowledge the areas we need to attack, so that when we have a game we're just successful and ready to play."

No. 2 Georgia will face No. 4 Alabama at Saban Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.