Urban Meyer heaps praise on Alabama QB Jalen Milroe
Early in the season, the quarterback position was a question mark for Alabama. Jalen Milroe won the starting job, but wound up on the sidelines against USF before re-taking the QB1 a week later.
The Crimson Tide haven’t lost since, rattling off 11 straight wins after a Week 2 loss to Texas to make it back to the College Football Playoff. Milroe is a big reason for that as he threw for 2,718 yards, ran for 468 yards and totaled 35 touchdowns on the year.
His ability to make big plays certainly stood out to Urban Meyer, who put Milroe in some elite company.
“He’s Percy Harvin-slash-Reggie Bush with the ball in his hand every snap,” Meyer told Lettermen Row’s Tim May on Urban’s Take with Tim May.
Milroe’s journey this season was an interesting one. Some were wondering if Nick Saban’s run of dominance was over at Alabama following the 10-point loss to Texas at Bryant Denny Stadium. In that game, Milroe threw two interceptions.
Meyer acknowledged the Crimson Tide’s state after the first few weeks, including the 17-6 victory over USF. It wasn’t the Alabama we’ve come to know over the last 16 seasons since Saban took over. But Milroe’s bounce-back was the spark to the season-ending stretch, capped off by the memorable 4th and 31 play at Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
That, to Meyer, showed how far Milroe had come.
“I don’t know him, I’ve never met him. But I’m a fan of his,” Meyer said. “He got benched — the worst Alabama team I’ve seen it seen … since I was playing them, when I was coaching at Florida. They played South Florida, it was the worst-looking Alabama team — not player-wise. But just didn’t play hard. They were a mess. They benched their quarterback, played two other quarterbacks. And then Jalen Milroe just came back and came back and came back.
“He’s resilient. He’s not apprehensive about running, which I like that. That’s uncommon nowadays. The play against Auburn, just what Auburn was doing on defense, we can do a whole ‘nother show on that. Like, I can’t imagine that, on 4th and 31.”
Meyer said Milroe’s play in the Auburn game epitomized his message when he coached at Florida and at Ohio State.
“I grew up in a world where offensive football was 100-year war, but win the 10-yard battles,” Meyer said. “And that’s [what] we would tell our guys, ’10-yard battles, 10 yard battles.’ And the quarterback’s job was to get first down. What’s that mean? At all costs. And he did it.
“I thought that was kind of appropriate for the transformation he had from starter, benched, to criticism, to, ‘I’m going to go into game right here with my legs,’ and he did.”
Milroe started to generate some Heisman Trophy buzz toward the end of the season and after the SEC Championship. However, he missed out on a trip to New York for the ceremony on Saturday.
Next year, though, Meyer thinks the buzz will be pretty loud.
“He’ll be No. 1 on the list next year going into that season,” Meyer said.