TAMPA, Fla. — If this was the tip for Jalen Milroe at Alabama, it can’t be how or the place he needed it to finish.
Lacking out on the 12-team playoff and taking part in a day undercard within the ReliaQuest Bowl towards unranked Michigan, Milroe had three turnovers in a wet first quarter and noticed a last-minute shot to win finish with 4 straight incompletions in a 19-13 loss to the Wolverines.
“It’s actually an honor to put on the script ‘A’ each Saturday, win or loss. I do not take it evenly in any respect,” Milroe stated after the sport, noting that he needed to give attention to the sport and never reply specifics on his plans shifting ahead. “It has been an incredible journey.”
It is by no means an excellent factor when, in the identical sport the place you are requested in case you’re leaving early for the NFL Draft, your head coach can be requested how a lot he thought of benching you.
“I believed there have been nonetheless numerous good performs that he made,” first-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer stated. “I noticed, I suppose, a fighter, the combat in his eyes, you already know. So long as I see that, I wish to grasp in there with the fellows that this program means so much to.”
Milroe has adopted a protracted line of Alabama quarterbacks below Nick Saban whose school success led to going excessive within the draft, from Jalen Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa to Mac Jones to Bryce Younger. A yr in the past, Milroe completed sixth within the Heisman voting, throwing 23 touchdowns towards six interceptions. This yr, he took a step again, with 16 touchdowns towards 11 interceptions. Alabama was ok handy Georgia one among its two losses, but in addition unhealthy sufficient to lose to Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and now Michigan.
Tuesday’s loss put Alabama at 9-4 for the season. The final time the Crimson Tide didn’t win not less than 10 video games was all the way in which again to 2007, Saban’s first season.
In a sport through which Michigan — a defending nationwide champion that wanted a robust end simply to change into bowl-eligible — had its high draft prospects choose out of the sport, Alabama had its largest abilities nonetheless dedicated to taking part in.
However the sport began disastrously for Milroe, first with a turnover on downs after going for it on fourth down simply throughout midfield. Milroe then had three turnovers in a span of 4 performs, every setting Michigan up with drives that began within the crimson zone. The Wolverines had a 16-0 lead earlier than the primary quarter was over, regardless of having simply 43 yards of whole offense.
The rain let up, Milroe modified his cleats and his sport improved. He had a landing go within the second quarter, then a 41-yard run and 40-yard throw within the remaining minute earlier than halftime to arrange a discipline objective. However he ended up getting sacked 5 instances, so regardless of that 41-yard run, he completed the day with 7 yards on 16 carries whereas finishing solely 16 of 32 passes for 192 yards.
He set himself up for an enormous comeback, with a 25-yard go to the Michigan 15-yard line within the remaining two minutes, solely to have 4 straight passes go incomplete to permit the Wolverines to flee with the win.
DeBoer praised his quarterback for his angle after the loss, saying he performs the appropriate approach even when he comes up quick.
“Whenever you’re the quarterback of a soccer workforce, the eyes are at all times on you, particularly once you’re at Alabama,” DeBoer stated. “You are going by some ups and downs in the middle of the season. It takes on a heavy burden generally. He stays the course. … The combat in him, the power to maneuver ahead, everybody’s going to make a mistake right here and there. I believed that is one space the place he is actually improved, particularly the final half of the season, and I believe our guys admire that in him.”
If Milroe have been to enter this yr’s draft, he can be someplace within the second tier of a typically weak QB class, with early projections having him as a second-day draft decide, going within the second or third spherical. High school quarterbacks are coveted in in the present day’s world of NIL and the switch portal, so it is attainable that he may have profitable gives to complete his school profession elsewhere.
Milroe spoke with confidence after the sport about Alabama’s future — with out committing to being a part of it himself — saying regardless of a uncommon dip in wins, the expectation of success stays on the highest stage.
“We have now numerous nice dudes within the locker room which might be hungry, that wish to get higher and uphold the usual,” Milroe stated.
Whether or not he’ll be a type of dudes within the Alabama locker room going ahead stays to be seen.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand spent a decade overlaying the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Instances and The Athletic. You may comply with him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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