Jalen Milroe explains Alabama's approach to new 12-team College Football Playoff, expanded season

Jalen Milroe and Alabama’s approach to the 12-team College Football Playoff didn’t change compared to the original playoff.

The goal remains the same: go 1-0 each week and compete for national titles. Simple enough right?

That’s Milroe’s mindset, even under new head coach Kalen DeBoer, who took Washington within one game of winning a national title last season.

“I think for us as a team, it’s all about setting short term goals and long term goals,” Milroe said on Get Up. “To achieve those goals, we have to take care of right now and push each other to be the best us each and every day so that we have an opportunity to grow as a football team. So that whenever the time comes to go and attack a day as far as preparation for our opponent, it’s all about the preparation in the offseason that’s going to catapult us to get there. 

“But what a great opportunity to have a 12 team playoff to push us to be victorious in a sense. So it’s a great opportunity for a lot of teams to compete and have another opportunity.”

Milroe is certainly in the Heisman conversation after ending last season on a higher note. DeBoer, knowing his work with Michael Penix Jr., is ready to maximize Milroe’s talent en route to another playoff appearance.

“I mean, it’s Jalen, but it’s also the guys around him,” DeBoer said. “I think our system, when you’ve done it for 25 years especially when you’re at a smaller college level, the FCS level, Southern Illinois [and] Eastern Michigan, you’re adjusting to the guys that you have. The offensive volume of different things you’ve done, of course, it starts with your quarterback. I remember running G option back in 2002, and the quarterback had 25 carries a game sometimes. And then, in the years after that, there was a little more passing.

“You just adjust to your personnel, and that’s all built within. I’ve got smart people that I can work with on that offensive staff, like Brian Ellis, a coordinator coming from Georgia Southern, who can see things from a quarterback standpoint. So, [with] us all being in a room, we can make sure we’re really guiding and not have too many voices in Jalen’s ear. But also just making sure we’re making good decisions and continue to formulate a plan around him [and] also the other personnel that he has surrounding him.”