Kirk Herbstreit credits Jalen Milroe, sees more potential for Alabama offense
The Alabama passing attack has made major strides since the start of the season, and quarterback Jalen Milroe is a big reason why.
After getting benched following a poor performance against Texas, Milroe has been excellent over the past three games.
In wins over Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Texas A&M the past three weeks, Milroe completed 73 percent of his passes. College football analyst Kirk Herbstreit spoke about the progress Milroe has made during ESPN College GameDay on Saturday.
“I think there’s a big difference with where they are offensively, the confidence I think the quarterback is playing with. If you go back to the Texas game, Jalen Milroe, he’s a guy you were never going to question his arm strength. He’s got plenty of arm. It was really more about his ability to recognize coverage and make good decisions,” Herbstreit said. “And I think just in these first few weeks since he got benched, he has shown a lot as far as improvement. And I think that’s why Alabama now starts to become an interesting team that you want to watch offensively.”
Jalen Milroe played the best game of his career against Texas A&M, throwing for a career high 321 yards and three scores.
The biggest difference Herbstreit sees from earlier in the season to now is that Milroe is more comfortable in the system and much quicker at going through his reads.
“Let’s look at him in the Texas game, and this is where he was still growing. He’s locking in. He’s predetermining where to go with the ball instead of working through his progressions. I think Tommy Rees after this game started to realize, ‘OK, here’s an area where I think he’s struggling. Here’s an area where I think he can improve,'” Herbstreit said.
“Here he is a few weeks later against Texas A&M on the road, working through his progressions. Instead of bouncing around, he’s able to go right back to the left, get the ball out of his hands quickly by making that decisive decision, building confidence.”
The Alabama offense has clearly improved since early in the season and Herbstreit expects the Crimson Tide to continue to get better and better the second half of the year as Jalen Milroe continues to improve.
“I think this offense is evolving. It’s not done right now. It’s improved. It’s not anywhere close to being done,” Herbstreit said. “But give Tommy Rees a lot of credit for finding the adjustments and Jalen Milroe a ton of credit for keeping his confidence, working through that storm and coming out on the back end. And now Alabama becomes interesting. The offense is coming, and the defense is getting better, too.”