JALEN MILROE 'STARVING' HEADING INTO YEAR 2 AS BAMA'S STARTER

Jalen Milroe was impressive in 2023 in his first season as Alabama's starting quarterback. Now, it's all about what he can do for an encore.

The Crimson Tide are entering a new era following the retirement of head coach Nick Saban. Kalen DeBoer has taken over, and he'll be relying heavily on his now experienced signal caller to keep the program among the elite.

We caught up with Milroe this week as part of his partnership with Six Star Pro Nutrition, which the talented dual-threat says he uses to help him through his training program.

"It's a unique relationship, especially being an athlete. You have to take advantage of this unique time of NIL," Milroe said. "With me, it's all about things that are beneficial and benefit me...It's a great protein shake. It's really beneficial to me."

We also spoke with Milroe about his upcoming season, the two most memorable plays, both good and bad, from 2023, his relationship with DeBoer and more.

The Spun: At this point, one of the obvious things we'd love to know is what are some differences between Nick Saban and Coach DeBoer?

Jalen Milroe: One thing is, of course things are different. But one thing we could harp on is how are things the same. We all want to be successful within the whole program. We still have a great team around us, whether it's medical staff, academics, recruiting staff and of course coaches. That's been consistent. We have a great group of coaches up here that's pushing us to be great athletes on and off the field.

We haven't taken a step back. All we've done is take a step forward in every aspect of our game, and it's evident to how we're performing right now. I'm very pleased with how we're doing as a team, because with some external factors that took place earlier in this offseason, you could definitely see that there could be some division, but leaders have stepped up throughout our team and pushed us in the right situation.

To speak more about Coach DeBoer, Coach DeBoer is offensive-minded. I'm biased towards it, but I love it, as a quarterback. Very, very personable. It's funny, it's you and somebody in the hallway, you and that person, and if it's you and Coach DeBoer, he's not just going to say 'Hi, how you doing?' and walk past. He's going to sit there and talk to you five, 10 minutes about anything. That's just the person he is. Not just the person, but the coach, he's very smart. He does a lot of great things on offense and it's evident through his success over the years with his quarterbacks and offenses.

The Spun: For you personally, after one full year as the starter, what is it like now going into this season as the established starter as opposed to competing for the job?

JM: I think for me, I'm still starving. No matter if I was the starter last year or not, I have the same mindset. One thing that is very critical is that no matter who the quarterback is, you're QB1. With my development in college, I always approached every rep as if I was the starter, so that when my time came, I'd be ready. That's the thing that's very important when it comes to achieving goals. I'm not satisfied with last year. I still have things I need to improve on to be the best player I can be and I acknowledge that. That's something I'm excited about.

The Spun: You segued perfectly into our next question. What in particular are you looking to work on this offseason? What are you looking to show in terms of expanding your game or things you wanted to improve on?

JM: I think No. 1 is limiting bad plays. I believe that the quarterback makes most of their sacks. It's a social norm to believe that it's the offensive line's fault when it comes to the quarterback getting sacked, but I feel like if you make the right protection call, know when to escape the pocket, know when to step up, know when to check the ball down, that's on the quarterback. On my end, I'm watching tape, looking to see when I should check the ball down, when I should throw the ball away, getting the ball out sooner. I think that's an area of growth that I can have and get better for next year. 

Just being more efficient in the passing game, stepping up as a leader. These are just quick things that I have that I'm trying to improve each and every day. Just continue to check things off my checklist of things that I'm trying to improve on.

The Spun: You've mentioned the expectations at the University of Alabama. Do you feel any added pressure to win a title this season after a couple of years of coming up short?

JM: Not necessarily. I think the challenge is for other teams to stop us. We have a starving group that's in the locker room. That's the thing that we have, that mentality to try and improve and get better as a whole. When you have individuals that are constantly trying to improve and build with their teammates, that's when you can build a great team. That's what we have. I don't feel any added pressure at all. 

At some point, we're going to have game 1, we're going to have game 2, we're going to have game 3, we're going to get to game 6 at some point. Why look at the future when you have things that you can improve on right now? That's what we have right now. The process of now.

The Spun: Last question is about two specific plays last year that were memorable. The first one was the 4th-and-31 against Auburn that kept you guys alive for the SEC championship and College Football Playoff. The second was the failed 4th-and-goal in the Rose Bowl against Michigan. Could you take us through those two plays, what the play calls were, what happened on them, what was it like before the play, etc.?

JM: The first one, 4th-and-31, that was a great play call. It was something we repped all season. You don't know when we might have to call that play. We had the opportunity to take advantage of it. We did a really good job of preparation throughout the whole season of building on plays like this and trying to have the right mindset. One thing I can say is, when we took the field for that play, I didn't see any type of hesitation from any guys. Everybody fell back to their preparation. That's what I saw. It was great execution with everybody as a whole. 

To speak on the game against Michigan, it was a great play call. We just didn't execute as players. That was on us. Great play call by Coach [Tommy] Rees. If we had that play back, I would call the same play. I have to look at it this way too; I was very appreciative of Coach Saban, Coach Rees, our whole staff of trusting me with the football the last play of the game. Although it was very emotional during that play, during that moment, during the next 24 hours, I had the opportunity to talk to Coach Rees and I told him thank you. Of course, we lost, but if we would have scored. It would have been a different mentality people would have had toward the play. It was a great play call. We just didn't execute.

You can read more of our interviews with athletes or media stars here.

Related: Kalen DeBoer Has Been Incredibly Impressed By Jalen Milroe

2024-06-27T21:46:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd