No crystal ball needed: Alabama QB Jalen Milroe's true test is Texas

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The question seemed innocuous, but Alabama coach Nick Saban must have felt a hint of presumption given his prickly response.

“You talked about Jalen [Milroe] getting more experience moving forward,” a reporter said after Saturday night’s 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee in which Milroe got the start at quarterback and scored five touchdowns. “How do you think tonight’s positive performance will help him moving forward to next week and beyond?”

Saban recoiled.

“So you’re asking me to speculate and answer a question about how some guy’s going to perform in the future?” he said. “I don’t really know. I love him. I think he’s doing well. I know he’s working hard to try to improve. He’s a good competitor. He’ll do everything he can to play his best.”

Saban then grabbed a soda sitting atop the podium.

“This is a Coke bottle,” he said, “it’s not a crystal ball.”

OK, but why the hostility? Milroe completed 13 of 18 passes for 194 yards. The redshirt sophomore and former backup to Bryce Young became the first Alabama quarterback ever to throw three touchdowns and rush for two scores in a game. And he had no turnovers. Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill raved about how “dynamic” of a runner he was and what “great touch” he put on his passes.

“It starts with No. 4,” Stockstill said of the Alabama offense. “He’s pretty dadgum special.”

Why then was Saban so reticent to talk about Milroe’s future? He singled out Milroe’s only significant mistake. It was early in the game and the defense dialed up a play — sonic field blitz — that Alabama had prepared for. But instead of checking out of the play — a toss sweep — like he was supposed to, Milroe did nothing. The defense overran the right side of the line and running back Jase McClellan was stopped for a 5-yard loss. Right tackle JC Latham whipped around to Milroe and threw his hands up as if to ask, what gives?

On paper, Milroe looked perfect, earning SEC Offensive Player of the Week. But apparently that wasn’t the whole story.

On paper, nothing actually changed. When the depth chart came out for No. 3 Alabama’s marquee game against No. 11 Texas on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), Milroe was still listed as co-starter alongside Tyler Buchner, Ty Simpson and Dylan Lonergan.

Milroe passed the practice exam against Middle Tennessee.

Now comes the real test against a top-15 opponent, against his home state school, against a program he grew up rooting for and a school he once planned to attend.

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TO UNDERSTAND HOW Milroe got here — on the precipice of being the full-time starting quarterback of a playoff-caliber team — begin with the first jersey he ever bought. It was burnt orange, No. 10, with the last name Young written across the back.

Growing up in Katy, about a two-hour drive east from Austin, Milroe’s favorite player was Vince Young, the All-American and former first-round pick who led Texas to the national championship in 2005.

Asked Saturday whether he had members of his extended family who root for the Longhorns, Milroe admitted sheepishly, “Yeah.”

And what about his immediate family?

Again, sheepishly, Milroe said, “Yeah.”

So it’s no wonder that when he had his pick of colleges, he initially committed to Texas and its former head coach Tom Herman. The video of him announcing his commitment — hook ’em horns sign and all — is still up on his social media accounts from the summer of 2019.

It’s time….🤫 pic.twitter.com/zrHSNS2F6e

— Jalen Milroe (@JalenMilroe) July 22, 2019

Alabama was in the mix, having offered him a scholarship two and a half months before he committed to Texas — and three months after Plan A, Carson Beck, decommitted from the Tide.

Then-offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian — now the head coach at Texas — recalled Milroe coming to a camp in Tuscaloosa and being impressed by his physical skills as much as his intangibles. His father was a Marine and his mother was in the Navy. Sarkisian thought that military background played a part in Milroe’s work ethic and the way he carried himself.

“We kind of kept chopping wood in the recruitment process,” Sarkisian said. “And in the end I just felt that there was so much upside. The physical ability that he had: the arm talent, the legs, the leadership.”

A year after committing to Texas, Milroe flipped his commitment to Alabama. He told 247Sports at the time that with Sarkisian he’d receive coaching “for the future.” Because Sarkisian had been an OC in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, Milroe said, “He knows what it takes to get to that point.”

But two weeks after locking in that future by signing a letter of intent, Sarkisian took the job at — of all places — Texas.

“I was kind of kicking myself a little,” Sarkisian said. “But that’s part of it.”

Sarkisian said it happens a lot where you get to know players and they end up at other programs.

“You root for them,” he said, “but not this Saturday.”

Speaking as the head coach at Texas — who understands the expectations and even fuels them a bit — Sarkisian is more interested in limiting Milroe’s big-play ability than reliving the past.

After watching Alabama’s performance in Week 1 the thing that concerned him most, he said, was their balance offensively. Against Middle Tennessee, the Crimson Tide had 226 yards passing and 205 yards rushing.

Sarkisian acknowledged Milroe’s arm and how he can make “every throw in the book — off-platform, on the run, doesn’t matter.” But the toughest thing they’ll have to do on Saturday, he said, is contain Milroe when he flees the pocket.

“He’s an elite runner with the ball in his hands, with his speed and his physicality,” Sarkisian said. “And he’s highly competitive.”

Case in point: Milroe’s first carry of the season when a bad snap landed at his feet and he didn’t give up on the play. He chased the ball 5 yards behind him, scooped it up, shrugged off one would-be tackler and danced through a collapsing pocket. With a sliver of a lane to run through, he took off, broke containment and avoided four more would-be tacklers on the way to the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown.

McClellan was not surprised. He’d seen those improvisational skills in practice many times.

“When he gets in space,” McClellan said, “that’s what he does.”

Four hundred or so miles away, Milroe’s predecessor, Young, watched with pride. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft said he’d seen the work Milroe put in behind the scenes the past two years and knew a moment like Saturday’s game against Middle Tennessee was possible.

“J-Mil balled out,” Young said. “For me, I’ve been able to watch him grow and just continue to get better in all aspects — from on the field and off the field, his understanding of the game and the offense, his command, everything on the field, continues to grow. That’s my guy. That’s my brother. So I’m super excited for him.”

Not that long ago, Alabama had another quarterback like that — strong and athletic and a little unpolished as a passer. He was from Texas and he was named Jalen, too.

In February, Jalen Hurts was a finalist for the NFL MVP and led the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl.

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OK, SO MAYBE we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Take a step back to last season and Milroe’s eight appearances when he threw a total of five touchdowns and three interceptions. He completed just 58.5% of his passes and averaged only 5.6 yards per attempt.

Does one game of three touchdowns, no interceptions, 72.2% completions and 12.9 yards per attempt erase all of that?

Does it count if it’s against Middle Tennessee and not the University of Tennessee?

The caliber of athlete Milroe will face against Texas will be much different. The windows he’ll have to throw into will be much smaller and the players tackling him will be much larger.

Oh, and the stakes will be much higher.

But you know who’s taking it all in stride? Milroe.

Saban would have been proud of the way his quarterback didn’t give an inch during his postgame interview last weekend. Consistently, Milroe diverted the focus away from himself and back to the team.

How do you think you played?

“There’s a lot of things that we still need to improve on … as a team. We just want to get 1 percent better.”

How did you score on that bad snap?

“The other 10 guys on the field that helped me get into the end zone.”

What was it like finding out you would start?

“The room as a whole, we push each other. … I’m proud of every guy — that goes for Dylan, that goes for Eli [Holstein], that goes for Ty and Tyler.”

The only question that tripped him up was about some members of his family still rooting for Texas. But even then he insisted that it didn’t make Saturday’s game any more or less special.

“Just another opponent on the schedule,” he said. “Just day by day trying to improve.”

Talk about trusting the process.

He set a school record and said on Monday, “It was a start.” He wanted to appreciate the win, of course, “But also look in the mirror and try to look at how I could be a better leader. How I could be a better passer? How can I be more efficient?”

Cornerback Terrion Arnold is one of Milroe’s closest friends on the team, so it was up to him to shed some light on his mindset. On Monday, Arnold said, “J-Mil is my LANK brother.”

LANK, Arnold explained, is an acronym the players came up with this offseason. It stands for, “Let all the naysayers know.”

That, Arnold said, is exactly what Milroe did against Middle Tennessee.

“People have been doubting him and kind of saying he can’t play the position,” he said. “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.”

What his future holds, not even Saban’s Coke bottle knows.