Jalen Milroe shares relationship with Steve Sarkisian, Jeff Banks

Jalen Milroe passed his first test as Alabama‘s starting quarterback in Week 1, but there’s no doubt his next assignment will be much tougher as the Crimson Tide host the Texas Longhorns this Saturday.

Texas head coach and assistant head coach Steve Sarkisian and Jeff Banks were previously a part of Alabama’s staff as recent as 2020, meaning they recruited Milroe. And ahead of their homecoming, Milroe was asked what kind of relationship he built with the two during his recruitment.

“During recruitment, Alabama was one of the schools I wanted to go to and there were coaches that were here throughout the recruitment process, great guys, great coaches,” Milroe said. “And they recruited me here but I love the team that we have and the coaches that we have here now.”

Milroe kept his comments about Alabama’s former staffers and current Texas staff members short and sweet, with his focus primarily on what’s going on between the white lines.

But Milroe’s history with Texas goes beyond Sarkisian in Banks, as the Katy, Texas native was actually committed to Texas in high schol.

Milroe was a four-star recruit out of Tompkins High School, where he was ranked the No. 13 quarterback in the nation and the No. 90 overall player according to On3’s Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He committed to the Longhorns in July of 2019, but then flipped his commitment to Alabama three days after current Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers announced he’d be transferring from Ohio State to Texas.

The two Texas quarterback prospects will now square off this Saturday in one of the most highly anticipated games of the college football season, with both sides having plenty of familiarity with each other in a variety of ways.

Alabama will host Texas this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET in a marquee matchup airing on ESPN.

Steve Sarkisian on Jalen Miroe

Milroe may have kept his comments short regarding Sarkisian, but at halftime of ABC’s broadcast of the LSU versus Florida State game on Sunday, Sarkisian spoke about facing Milroe and the Alabama offense.

“Jalen is a fantastic player at quarterback, had a chance to recruit him coming out of high school. He’s got arm talent, he’s got leg talent, he’s a great competitor and leader,” Sarkisian said. “They’ve got good runners, they utilize the tight ends well, and they’ve got good speed on the perimeter.”