Jalen Milroe's Numbers Putting Him in Elite SEC Company

The Alabama quarterback is now one of five players in SEC history with at least 15 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns in the same season.

Nov 16, 2024; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Mercer safety Chris Joines (14) lunges to try and bring down Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) at Bryant-Denny Stadium / Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—  Jalen Milroe is playing his way into rarified air amongst some SEC royalty. With his performance against Mercer on Saturday, Milroe is now one of five players in SEC history with 15 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns in the same season.

Three of the four others (Tim Tebow at Florida in 2007, Cam Newton at Auburn in 2010 and Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M in 2012) went on to win the Heisman trophy in the same season they accomplished the feat. The only one who didn't was Nick Fitzgerald at Mississippi State in 2016 when he threw for 21 touchdowns and ran for 16 others. The other three finished their Heisman seasons with at least 20 rushing touchdowns as well.

With two games to go in the regular season and at least one postseason game guaranteed, Milroe can keep adding on to his impressive stats and join that exclusive 20/20 club. The Alabama quarterback currently has the sixth-best odds to win the 2024 Heisman trophy and would have to make up a lot of ground to win college football's highest individual honor, but Milroe still has opportunities in front of him.

Milroe has always had skill with his legs, but showed a hesitancy to run at times early in his career as the starter at Alabama. As the 2023 season went on, Milroe seemed to grow more comfortable in the offense, and that season's LSU game was his breakout performance running the ball with 155 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

He had similar success against LSU this season (185 yards and four touchdowns), but under the new coaching staff with Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan, Milroe has been more comfortable in both his passing and running game all season long.

"He’s uniquely talented," Sheridan said about Milroe. "His ability to throw the football, and obviously his speed and quickness as an athlete. I think what you’re trying to encourage all the players is, continue to grow, continue to develop. Identify the things that are your strengths, to build on them, and then identify things that you can improve on and try to make those your strengths. And so, I think he deserves so much credit for the work he’s put in throughout his career, and becoming as good of a football player as he possibly can be. So. he’s had production in both areas, and the more you do well, both as a unit and as a player, the harder you are to defend."

On the season, Milroe has 2,232 yards and 15 touchdowns through the air with another 608 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground. From the time DeBoer was announced as the new head coach, Milroe looked forward to the opportunity of getting to grow and learn under an offensive-minded head coach.

"I think it just starts with doing what's best for the team, and that's what Jalen is all about," DeBoer said Monday. "That's really what I think triggers him to want to win, and here's how we got to win. You know, there's gonna be times where you got to throw the ball, there's times where you got to run and just reps over and over and over again."

Milroe has made throws this season, particularly against Georgia, that have won Alabama games. But when he is able to have success on the ground as well, it opens up a whole new dimension for the offense and creates even more challenges for the opposing defense to defend.

It's not a coincidence that two of his three lowest rushing totals of the year came in Alabama's two losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee, even though the offense wasn't the issue against the Commodores. Milroe appeared hesitant to run against Tennessee and people questioned after the loss if he was hurt. DeBoer said at the time that there was nothing holding Milroe back, but the redshirt junior quarterback has looked like his old self in the two games since the bye.

"He's, I think, back in a really good spot with trust in the guys around him, there's been a little more continuity with the practice, skill players, offensive line. There's just been more of that. He's become more comfortable in understanding what our team needs from him to be able to win SEC football games." 

Alabama has two SEC games left on the regular season schedule against Oklahoma (5-5, 1-5 SEC) and Auburn (4-6, 1-5 SEC) in which Milroe will need to continue to play winning football if the Crimson Tide wants a shot at the SEC championship game and College Football Playoff.

And that's ultimately what DeBoer, Sheridan and Milroe are concerned about. Individual accolades are great and deserve recognition, but Milroe's growth in his redshirt junior season has put his team back in a position to compete for championships.

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