Bama’s Milroe: DeBoer ‘very positive in me’

• Chris Low, ESPN Elder WriterJul 17, 2024, 02:29 PM ET

  Close

  • College football press reporter
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

DALLAS– Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe finished sixth in the Heisman Prize voting a year back and was among college football’s most popular players down the stretch, but there could be more coming under new coach Kalen DeBoer.Teammate and experienced offending lineman Tyler Booker said Tuesday at SEC media days that Milroe would “go to a whole new level “in DeBoer’s system.” I seem like it will enable Jalen to be himself, specifically the way I’ve seen coach DeBoer and Jaylen communicate,”Booker said.”He wants to do what Jalen can do well, construct on that, and the other playmakers on offense as well. Letting Jalen play his game is the best thing that we can do. Towards the end of the year when Jalen started playing his game and felt more comfy running, that’s when he was at his finest. “Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Milroe accounted for 26 touchdowns and turned

the ball over just five

times in his last 10 regular-season games after being benched in Week 3 versus South Florida. His change was the driving force in Alabama winning the SEC championship and making the College Football Playoff.Milroe stated the greatest distinction for him is the self-confidence DeBoer has actually displayed in him from the time DeBoer walked into the football complex. “It’s the self-confidence level,” Milroe said.”Coach DeBoer is incredibly confident in me and speaks that every day I get to see him

. You enjoy to hear that, player to coach. And when it comes to X’s and O’s, he’s helped limit things I can be great at and the things I can enhance on.”However all I want to do is master the game of football. That’s when you can branch out and make plays in every part of the game.” Milroe was not one of

the 5 quarterbacks forecasted to go in the preliminary of the 2025 NFL draft in the mock draft from ESPN’s Matt Miller. Of course, there were real doubts inside the Alabama football complex a year ago that he would even be the starter. And although it’s DeBoer’s system, DeBoer said offending planner Nick Sheridan would be the main playcaller.”It’s been great to have Coach DeBoer and Coach Sheridan and gain from them, and their knowledge has allowed me to be a much better quarterback,”Milroe stated.”My biggest objective was to be better Game 1 this year than I remained in Video game 1 last year. Coach DeBoer puts into his players.”Milroe’s ability to toss the ball down the field must assist him blossom in DeBoer’s system.” He did that on a high level, so we need to make certain we continue to tap into that strength,” DeBoer said. “But I think to continue to develop all the important things he can do, and he’s done a

terrific task of enhancing his footwork and understanding pocket presence, is learning from the past and taking in

what we have actually been truly highlighting here over the very first six months. “And what separates Milroe, according to DeBoer, is what Milroe can do running the ball.” That can be found in different ways,”DeBoer said.”That can come when you are pushing the ball down the field and everybody’s dropping underneath those paths, and now there’s a lot more space for him to run. Or it can simply be created runs or checks out that keep a defense on their heels and provide defense coordinators headaches.”Milroe was sacked 44 times

last season (Alabama quit a program-most 49), and he stated a number of those sacks were his fault. He’s also well aware that DeBoer’s last quarterback, Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., had the second-lowest sack rate in college football a year earlier.”This system offers our entire offense a possibility to be explosive, and a lot of that is on me to know when to hold on to the ball a little longer and when to remove, “Milroe said. “That’s been a focus without Coach DeBoer eliminating my freedom to play my game.”