Alabama QB Jalen Milroe Opens Up About Change of Head Coaches
The Alabama Crimson Tide football program is entering a completely new era during the upcoming 2024 college football season.
Gone are the days of Nick Saban patrolling the sidelines. Now, Kalen DeBoer is in town and quite a few things are expected to change. Alabama will remain the same contender, but the way the team plays is going to be different moving forwrad.
Jalen Milroe will start the season as the starting quarterback and is widely expected to be a potential Heisman Trophy contender. He'll have a huge role in helping the transition of coaches go smoothly.
As the team prepares to get started for the upcoming season, Milroe spoke out recently about the changes between the Saban and DeBoer eras for the Crimson Tide.
“It was funny because at practice, you know, I threw a really good ball,” he said. “I threw a really good deep ball down the field and a really good pass and everyone was celebrating. I was looking at the sideline to get the next play and the next signal. I get done with my rep and coach DeBoer comes to me like, ‘hey, what happened?’ I look down and he’s like, ‘I thought you was celebrating running down the field.’ I was like, ‘coach, I was just worried about the next play.’ He’s like, ‘well I want you to celebrate. I want you to be excited. That was a really good pass.’ I was like, ‘all right, this is different,’ He gave me a pat on the back and said, ‘that was a good play, be excited.’ I was like, ‘wow, this is different.’ That just changed my perspective. I was like, ‘all right, bet.'”
Basically, it sounds like DeBoer is trying to be much of a players coach and that he's trying to get his players to show emotion after big plays.
Those qualities are not bad to have. Keeping players engaged in a game is a good thing, as long as they have short memories when a bad play is made.
Milroe is coming off of a solid 2023 campaign for Alabama. He completed 65.8 percent of his pass attempts for 2,834 yards, 23 touchdowns, and six interceptions. In addition to his passing numbers, he picked up 531 yards and 12 more touchdowns on the ground.
Not only has Milroe found some good success on the field with the Crimson Tide, he has become one of the top NIL earners in the nation.
On3 has the Alabama quarterback currently ranked as the No. No. 5 ranked NIL earner in college football. They have valued him NIL worth at an impressive $1.6 million.
Hopefully, the Crimson Tide will be able to remain as a legitimate National Championship contender. Milroe will have a big part in making that happen and he seems to be liking his new head coach.
EVAN MASSEY
Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers both the NFL and NBA. He has worked for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net, and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.