Regarding Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, certain viewpoints are more important than others. When former Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron talks about him, it’s because he has been in Milroe’s position. He understands what it means to be the University of Alabama’s starting quarterback. As the team’s starter in 2011 and 2012, McCarron guided the Crimson Tide to consecutive national titles. In 2009, he won another one as a backup.
Under Nick Saban, McCarron was a member of the Alabama dynasty from the start. For around ten years, he was also a professional football player in the NFL and USFL. McCarron is knowledgeable about football, particularly the position of quarterback.
Therefore, his criticism of Milroe is worth hearing, even if I disagree with everything he stated.
Many people have unworthy opinions, especially those who have been hoping for Milroe’s demise ever since he started for the Tide last season. Since he started, there have been many requests for him to be benched. Even though he guided Alabama to the SEC Championship and a College Football Playoff in the previous season and placed sixth in the Heisman Trophy vote, it made no difference.
Once Milroe led the Tide to victory over the Bulldogs and to the top spot in the AP Poll, that conversation only became more amicable. However, the conversations have picked back up with the Vanderbilt defeat, followed by subpar quarterback performance in the victories against South Carolina and Tennessee.
McCarron questions if Ty Simpson can manage the Kalen DeBoer offense more successfully, but he isn’t necessarily advocating for Milroe to be benched. Since Milroe seems to be making too much effort to be someone he’s not at this point in his career, it’s a legitimate question.
Neal McCready and Tyler Siskey, the former recruiting director of Alabama, now frequently feature McCarron on their podcast. McCarron gave a nuanced assessment of Milroe’s performance this season on Tuesday, highlighting what he believes to be the main problems from the previous two weeks.
“It’s hard because I like the kid a lot and I think he’s a good college player, but he’s just not the quarterback that he wants to be,” McCarron stated on the podcast.
“I adore Jalen. He’s a hell of a player, in my opinion,” McCarron declared. “Despite his best efforts, he is not a quarterback—a pocket man. Looking back, I wonder whether it’s still in his mind someplace. Perhaps someone is giving him terrible advise. I’m not with him in that building. However, they did a major thing before their game against Texas at Alabama last year: Texas came out and said that he isn’t a pocket person and that he can’t chuck it and defeat us. After doing an interview, most likely a day or two later, Jalen turns around and says something along the lines of “I am a pocket guy.” I’m able to toss the ball. I was present for that particular game. He seemed to be attempting to demonstrate his ability as a throwing quarterback. He’s not good at that. His positive isn’t that.
“His greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Go, he has to be a 1-2 read.
In the end, I believe this evaluation of Milroe this year is spot-on and is both fair and intriguing. What DeBoer and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan could accomplish with a quarterback with Milroe’s athleticism was, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing aspects of the new offensive staff joining the team.
Many people thought that early in the season, Saban and Tommy Rees were making too much effort to make Milroe into someone he wasn’t. However, when the Tide began adjusting the system to play to his strengths, things really took off.
This season, I anticipated a whole season of it. And perhaps they have, and Milroe’s arrogance is preventing him from showcasing his athleticism. Milroe’s NFL Draft rankings soared after the victory over Georgia, reaching as high as No. 13 on ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s board.
In order to prove that he is a pocket quarterback who doesn’t give up and run if his first read isn’t open, Milroe wants to play in the NFL. But when Milroe goes through his progressions, he doesn’t trust what he sees, which is the problem:
The one aspect of McCarron’s reasoning that I disagree with is that Milroe hasn’t improved since the previous season. Although I believe that Milroe’s passing skills have clearly improved, I believe that this may have ultimately hurt this Alabama offensive.
Milroe is less eager to attempt to locate running lanes and make things happen with his feet since he is aware that he has improved. Rather than depending solely on his speed, he wants to demonstrate that he can make all of the throws by standing in the pocket.
I’ve yelled at him to run several times in the past few weeks. He has opted to retain the ball and either take a sack or make an incorrect throw when there have been wide rushing lanes. With each snap, he seems to be attempting to disprove the doubters, believing that if he stops running, he would demonstrate that he is really a running back posing as a quarterback.
However, it’s time to move on from LANK. Damn the acronym, Milroe and Alabama need to change their approach. Simply win. By whatever means. Milroe may have to return to one or two reads before running, as McCarron mentioned, but so be it. A year ago, the Crimson Tide were quite successful with that.
It is obvious that Milroe will fail if he attempts to play the game the way McCarron, Tua, Mac, and Bryce did. It could be time for Tuscaloosa to switch quarterbacks if he continues on doing this rather than using his strengths.
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