Quarterbacks avoid turnovers in Alabama’s first spring scrimmage
Alabama’s quarterback room is one of the most talented groups in college football. A returning starter who finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting in Jalen Milroe, a former five-star talent in Ty Simpson who showed promise in his limited action last season, an underrated returning talent with upside in Dylan Lonergan and a naturally-gifted new arrival in Austin Mack, who already has familiarity in the new offensive system.
With that being said, Milroe has a significant advantage in any ongoing competition due to his impact and experience from a season ago. Those two factors are critical, but the others in the room won’t just lay down and hand him the job. This battle — whether it be for the starting job or the No. 2 spot if Milroe continues his stranglehold at the top — raged on during the team’s first scrimmage of the spring, which took place on Thursday ahead of Easter weekend.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was pleased with all of the performances he got from his quarterbacks, especially the performance from Milroe.
“Jalen Milroe has been super consistent,” DeBoer told reporters following the scrimmage. “He’s done a good job of just playing ball. He’s got that that dual skill set, being able to run and throw. And now that we have enough things in where he can utilize all of that, you can see even the play-calling working around what he brings to the table.
“He’s tough to handle. He’s just so extremely fast. You think you have it bottled up and he’s just runs right around you. So, he’s done a really good job. I think he’s getting more and more comfortable with the offense every day, especially when it comes to the pass game. But there’s just things where he has options to make a play with his feet and he’s done that I think at the right time and being more and more comfortable just playing the game and finding ways to move the chains, converting what needs to convert, taking the shots when he needs to take the shots.
“So, really proud of the way he’s come along.”
There’s an eye-catching word in that first sentence: consistent. Not just consistent either… “super consistent.” This is an area Milroe struggled with at times in 2023. He’d string together strong stretches, but the consistency factor was lacking certain points. Of course, that’s to be expected from a first-year starter, but it’s encouraging that you’re already beginning to hear some of these buzzwords surrounding his performance so far this spring.
Milroe wasn’t Alabama’s only quarterback to do well in Thursday’s scrimmage though. As I’ve already mentioned, DeBoer was pleased with the entire group, including their ability to avoid turning the football over.
“All those guys. I actually thought the quarterbacks in general did a really good job making some throws, staying with plays, checking protections, just feeling really comfortable back there and not trying to do too much,” he said. “They never turned the ball over once today, which I think is a really good sign that says a lot. When they had chances to make throws, they went and put it in a spot where the offensive player could compete for it. And they threw some nice touchdown passes in there too, so it was really good all around.”
Avoiding turnovers is a major win for Alabama’s offensive field generals. Sure, some fans will also view that as a negative for the defense, but maintaining an emphasis on protecting the football and taking what the defense gives you should never be considered a bad thing. DeBoer’s offense is QB friendly. Regardless of where he’s been, you haven’t really seen the position struggle with turnovers. So Thursday’s development means that guys are operating within that structure, which is a good sign for it being this early on.
And if you’re wondering who took reps — or even the most reps — with the first team, DeBoer laid out how things were handled on that front.
“For the most part, Jalen Milroe took the ones,” he said. “To get all the quarterbacks the reps that we want to — and we’re trying to get them all a significant number in a scrimmage like this — there are times when other guys can take the reps with the ones as well. So that’s no indication on who’s at what spot — one, two, three or four — we’re just trying to get those guys reps. And it’s good to see guys operate not just with their group, maybe that people would see them at — the ones or the twos or the threes. He did a nice job.”
There are playmakers at every skill position surrounding the quarterback, and DeBoer’s offense knows how to take advantage of those guys. But we’ve also seen his ability to adjust things to fit his personnel, so there’s plenty of room for the quarterback to be a playmaker in this offense too.
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