WATCH: Jalen Milroe, Christian Leary connect for long touchdown during Alabama A-Day
The Alabama Crimson Tide offense is showing off its explosiveness during Saturday’s A-Day and spring game, although it might not be coming from who you would expect. In the second quarter of the spring game, Alabama backup quarterback Jalen Milroe connected on a deep, 52-yard touchdown with wide receiver Christian Leary.
With the ball just behind midfield, Leary took the snap and settled in the pocket before firing a deep ball down the right sideline to Leary. With a defender draped over his back, Leary got the inside track on the ball and came down with the ball inside the five, running into the end zone to secure the touchdown and extending the lead for the White team 13-0 over the Crimson team.
Milroe attempted just seven passes and threw one touchdown strike last season, while Leary caught two passes for four yards and a touchdown.
Milroe, Leary continue to grow in Alabama’s offense
Even though Milroe likely won’t see the field much this season, he has shown great growth inside the Crimson Tide offense. Milroe is behind Bryce Young on the depth chart, and that won’t change barring some unforeseen circumstances. Leary has shown similar improvement, and he has a greater path to playing time with a few losses from last year’s wide receiver room.
Milroe is a former four-star prospect and was rated as the 93rd overall player and 14th quarterback in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. Ahead of Alabama’s A-Day, Bryce Young broke down the progress he’s seen from Milroe in the quarterback room.
“J-Mil is someone I’m obviously super close with,” Young said of Milroe. “I’m around him as much as anyone. To see the growth from him coming in as a young player last year and really just trying to learn the offense and understand the reads and try to piece things together, just like I was my freshman year.
“Now, to take this next leap up, you can see him be more and more comfortable. You see him make decisions in the pocket, you see him make pre-snap reads, pre-snap adjustments, post-snap adjustments – and you can tell he’s really starting to piece things together. Also, I’ve seen how he’s matured as a leader. I’m super happy for him, and I know he’s going to keep working and getting better.”