Jalen Milroe breaks down keys to Alabama's improvement: 'We're not satisfied with last year'

Alabama went through one heck of a rollercoaster season in 2023, struggling early on, dropping an early contest and making a quarterback change all within the first three games. It looked like it might turn into a disaster of a season.

Instead, the Crimson Tide clawed their way back into contention and won an SEC title. And with it, a berth in the College Football Playoff.

If the Crimson Tide want to repeat as a playoff team, it’ll have to be even more locked in during the 2024 campaign. Long-time coach Nick Saban is gone and new coach Kalen DeBoer has taken over.

“The biggest thing we can do as a football team is learn from last year and set short-term goals and long-term goals,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said on the Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday. “The biggest thing we want to do is always try to be 1% better, always go 1-0 each and every day we enter the building.”

That process should push Alabama toward continual improvement. And it’s not like they were far away from winning it all in 2023.

A little more offense here, another defensive stop there. That’s all the Crimson Tide really need to be right back in the thick of things this fall.

Of course, a little self-reflection can help iron out some of the issues from a year ago.

“The biggest thing we’ve got to do is look from last year, what’s some things we did positively, what’s some things we did negatively?” Milroe said. “The biggest thing we want to do is turn our strengths even stronger and our weaknesses to a strength. I think we’re doing a really good job attacking the day, coming in the building eager to learn and we have a great coaching staff that’s going to put us in the position to be successful.”

Milroe’s personal improvement offers a ton of encouragement for Alabama fans. He started the year in rough shape, benched just two games in. Then he recovered and emerged as a fringe Heisman Trophy contender by year’s end.

He’ll go into 2024 as one of the early favorites to win college football’s biggest award. But he’s just trying to stay grounded.

“The biggest thing we have to do is just be where our feet are and just constantly try to get better,” Milroe said. “We’re not satisfied with last year. It was a great turnaround from the start to finish, and along the process that we had all together we just had that family environment. I think that was a positive movement from last year, was the family-like environment, because it’s hard to stop a family.

“Transitioning to this offseason it’s all about the relationship aspect right now and then constantly growing into the best offense, best defense, best special teams, all as one. But with that you’re just all about trusting the process and embracing the grind, because it’s going to be hard. We’re going to have a hard season that’s ahead of us.”

No rest for the weary, Alabama.

“To get to the season we have to be where our feet are, set our goals, constantly try to improve, grow, because guess what?” Milroe said. “Other teams are setting the same goals that we’re trying to accomplish. It’s going to be a hard task, so biggest thing we have to do is be where our feet are and constantly try to grow.”