Jalen Milroe thrives in Alabama football’s Georgia win

Jalon Walker knelt.

The Georgia football linebacker had just captured Alabama running back Jam Miller’s best block, and Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe was sprinting away. Walker’s helmet flew off his head, so he knelt on the Tide’s 38-yard line and just watched.

Milroe never stopped. Realistically, only safety Malaki Starks had a chance to stop him, and after the junior’s jump failed, Alabama’s signal-caller simply had to keep running up the sideline.

36 yards later, Milroe danced into the end zone.

“He was exceptional in my opinion,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. “I really didn’t want to rush it, but I just felt like the last couple of weeks starting with the Wisconsin game where he got into a rhythm a little bit. Made these pieces. We really still didn’t have enough options.”

Through four games, Milroe’s integration into DeBoer’s offense has been nearly flawless. Georgia was his best performance yet and will likely secure him a spot in the Heisman Trophy race against one of the top teams in the country.

He finished the game with 27 completions on 33 throws for 374 yards, two touchdowns and an interception that fell at the hands of CJ Dippre. He also led the Crimson Tide in rushing, rushing for 117 yards and two more scores.

“If you could just stop him and not have to worry about him throwing, then I think you could do it,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “But when he throws well and they catch him more often, it’s really hard to stop him.”

Milroe came a long way while on the bench against USF last season. He’s the centerpiece of DeBoer’s offense and appears to have a buddy worthy of the Alabama wide receiver’s pedigree in true freshman Ryan Williams.

Alabama almost gave away the win on Saturday. The Bulldogs scored three unanswered touchdowns late and turned a 30-7 halftime deficit into a UGA lead with just 2:31 left.

On the sideline, Milroe said he discussed the team’s core values ​​and urged the Tide to call it quits. Then he went out and did it.

Milroe went deep on the first play of the drive. He had Williams in one-on-one coverage on the sideline, not wide open, but enough to have a chance.

The redshirt junior from Texas somehow got to his feet, then turned and started running. The 75-yard touchdown pass, coupled with an interception by Zabien Brown, ended the game.

“Ryan on the field, that’s a one-on-one advantage for us,” Milroe said. “It’s a matter of showing eye discipline, reading the play correctly and just giving our guy a chance.”

Thanks to Milroe, Alabama has a chance. The Crimson Tide are 4-0 and travel to Vanderbilt next week.

UA didn’t go under when Nick Saban retired, at least not yet. For Milroe, the change seemed to help his game as DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan tailored the offense specifically to his abilities.

“I have a great coaching staff that believes in me,” Milroe said. “I have teammates who believe in me. Nothing else matters. I try to do my best on every play call that’s asked of me, maximize that play call as much as possible and every day that I have the opportunity to shoot a ball at the University of Alabama, the to be the best version of myself.”