Jalen Milroe, Terrion Arnold Ready to 'Let All Naysayers Know'

Outside doubts fueled a new motto for Crimson Tide players.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Jalen Milroe and Terrion Arnold may play on opposite sides of the ball for the Crimson Tide, but the two are best friends. 

Arnold now has eight career starts under his belt after Saturday's win over Middle Tennessee, and it was known heading into this season that Arnold would be one of Alabama's starting quarterbacks. 

However, Milroe was entangled in a quarterback battle all offseason long with Bryce Young off to the NFL. The talk of the offseason was who would win the starting job between Milroe, Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner. 

Milroe received the starting nod Saturday night, and his five-touchdown performance may have sealed his position as Alabama's starting quarterback. 

When asked about Milroe's performance, Arnold's face lit up, and it was apparent this is a topic he's been waiting to talk about. 

"J-Mil is my LANK brother," Arnold said. "For him to go out there and have a great performance as people have been doubting him and kind of saying he can't play the position. He's put in a lot of work, so it's good to see him grow. And I look forward to seeing him have success."

So what does LANK mean? Let All Naysayers Know.

According to Milroe, LANK was something created in the offseason as a motto to motivate the team. 

"There was a lot of doubt that took place throughout the offseason," Milroe said. "There was a lot of things that took place, so we came together as one group, one unit to come up with a motto."

Arnold says that the players take the disrespect personally. That's also part of where LANK comes from. He's still waiting for the right moment to introduce the motto to head coach Nick Saban at practice. 

It played out personally for Arnold on the first play from scrimmage in the team's season opener against the Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee targeted Arnold on a deep ball on the first play of the game. He stayed on the defender down the sideline and was able to swat the ball away. 

"Obviously last year when I started my sophomore year, I wasn’t really comfortable," Arnold said. "They tried the first play of the game and my grandad he always told me to stay focused and stay ready. So with them coming at me the first play this game I felt like that kind of set the tone for how the season was going to go."

What the fans saw from Arnold on Saturday is something Milroe saw all offseason. 

Despite the outside noise, Milroe is worried about proving anything to anyone when No. 4 Alabama hosts No. 11 Texas this Saturday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

"The biggest thing is being constantly hungry– not worrying about proving anyone wrong, proving anybody right," Milroe said. "Just trying to get better. To me, that's the key. I play for my brothers that are with me wearing the Crimson and White. I play for the coaching staff. I play for the Alabama fans. That's who I really play for."