Paul Finebaum makes the case for Jalen Milroe to be Alabama's starting QB moving forward
The last four starting quarterbacks at Alabama have all become NFL starting quarterbacks. However, this season, the position has become a point of weakness for the Crimson Tide and that became obvious this weekend in the team’s 17-3 win over USF.
Nick Saban and the Alabama coaching staff moved away from Jalen Milroe, who started the first two games. Instead, they played Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson. Now, however, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum thinks Alabama should go back to Milroe.
“The guy who started the first two games, Jalen Milroe,” Paul Finebaum said Sunday morning on SportsCenter. “He made plenty of mistakes against Texas, but he has talent. He can run the ball, he can make big plays, and for the life of me, I don’t understand what Tommy Rees the offensive coordinator is doing.”
Alabama averaged 40 points per game in Milroe’s first two starts. However, one of those was the loss to Texas, which saw him struggle at times. So, the coaching staff decided to give Buchner a shot against USF. He went 5 of 14 passing for 34 yards and was replaced by Simpson, who went 5 of 9 for 73 yards.
Milroe didn’t play against USF. However, in the first two games this season he completed 60 percent of his passes for 449 yards and five touchdowns to only two interceptions. Milroe also ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know what Tommy Rees is even doing there after three weeks. There were jokes on my Twitter timeline about if he’d make the plane coming home and I’m not really sure he should. So far, I think Tommy Rees has been a disaster as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator. He has changed,” Finebaum said.
Tyler Buchner, like Tommy Rees, came to Alabama from Notre Dame. There, he started three games in 2022 but was hampered by a shoulder injury.
“He clearly went with the wrong quarterback in Tyler Buchner. That’s the guy that followed him from Notre Dame. Ty Simpson had some moments but he’s still young and raw, and against big time SEC competition he could be under a lot of pressure,” Finebaum said. “So, Jalen Milroe to me would be the likely starter. But, then again, Nick Saban apparently is only listening to Tommy Rees, which is one reason why I think this program is in such turmoil, right now.”
Next week, Alabama opens SEC play against a tough Ole Miss team.
Alabama will evaluate all three quarterbacks
Following the win against USF, Nick Saban shared that Alabama is going to evaluate all three quarterbacks moving forward.
“We’re gonna evaluate the quarterbacks and the way they played today and evaluate Jalen Milroe in terms of how he played and decide this week, who gives us the best opportunity to be successful as an offensive team? And that’s the way we’ll go,” Saban said.
“I think that’s an internal team thing. I think that everybody has the opportunity to respond in the right way when things don’t go exactly like you want them to. We play the guys that practice the best all week long.”