Nick Saban assesses the development of Jalen Milroe, fires up fans about the future

The present at quarterback for Alabama is pretty good — Heisman winner Bryce Young — and the past has been excellent, so of course there’s optimism for the future at the position. And backup quarterback Jalen Milroe has shown a lot of promise.

He’s a different type of quarterback than Young, much more willing and able to hurt a defense with his legs. What has impressed his head coach, Nick Saban, the most is the growth from last year to now with the redshirt freshman.

“Yeah, Jalen has done a really nice job. He’s made a tremendous amount of improvement from last year to this year as a passer, as a guy that understands the offense, who can read the defense a little bit better. We have put him in games, but we have never really done things that he can do really well, in the game. He would be a guy that would be really great running some quarterback runs with. That would be completely different than what Bryce does,” Saban said on his weekly radio show.

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Milroe has flashed a lot as a runner in the sparing game action he’s gotten, averaging 12 yards a carry. Saban thinks that running ability could be even more pronounced in an offense tailored around it.

“And when we put him in the game, we’re really trying to help him develop in our offense, the things that we can do. If he had to play, we would probably feature things that he could do better. So, he could even be more effective, I think. But his ability to extend plays and run and scramble and make plays with his feet is something that really, really is difficult for defenses to adjust to. And he’s made some plays like that this year and he’s made some good throws,” Saban said.

Obviously the job is Young’s until he leaves campus, barring the unfortunate. So when Milroe goes in, it’s about using that time to learn because there’s nothing more valuable than game reps.

“But, you know, in every game that he plays, there’re things that he learns. Like sometimes we have an RPO and he threw it in to Cover 2 once. Well, you want middle-of-the-field coverage to be able to throw that RPO. If they’re playing split safeties, just hand the ball off, they don’t have as many guys in the box. So there’s always things that players learn. And as much as you practice it, sometimes when the game comes, that’s really when they can learn it the best. Because they have to make the decisions under fire. But he has made really good progress and we’re pleased with the way he’s developing,” Saban said.