Jalen Milroe reflects on journey through 2023 season, winning SEC Championship

On Sept. 9, Jalen Milroe walked off the field at Bryant Denny Stadium as Texas celebrated a rare double-digit victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The next week, he stood on the sidelines as Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson took all the snaps against USF, leading to questions about whether Milroe could be the guy to lead Alabama to a title.

In the 10 games since, he proved just that, and it culminated in Saturday’s victory over No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship.

Milroe settled in to his role as the starting quarterback after that rocky start, helping lead the Crimson Tide to a nine-game winning streak after that USF game. Those victories included four against ranked teams, including one Saturday against top-ranked Georgia — which hadn’t lost a game since the 2021 SEC Championship against Bryce Young and the Crimson Tide.

The criticism was loud earlier in the year. But Milroe’s mentality was simple.

“Keep the main thing the main thing,” Milroe told CBS’ Jenny Dell after the SEC Championship. “Before anybody had an opinion of me, I had my purpose already. The biggest thing was I just stayed true to myself and I had the right support system around me to uplift me.”

Milroe is known for his playmaking ability with his legs. But he also did plenty of work with his arm throughout this impressive stretch, and that didn’t stop Saturday. In the SEC Championship, he completed 13 of 23 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns in the air while adding 14 carries for a relatively quiet — comparatively speaking — 29 rushing yards. That performance earned him the game’s MVP award.

It was a long road to the top for Milroe, who spent two years behind Young as his backup quarterback. But when the clock hit zeroes and mighty Georgia lost a game for the first time in 728 days, all the work the Crimson Tide did this year paid off.

“We talk about the level of training, the offseason grind, it all comes to a game like this,” Milroe said. “Proud of the whole team because at the end of the day, the biggest thing we did, we tried to get 1% better and never gave up.”

It wasn’t just Jalen Milroe who got Alabama back to the top of the SEC, though. It was a group effort, and that was his message as the confetti fell and commissioner Greg Sankey prepared to hand the Crimson Tide the trophy.

“We have a great group of guys in our locker room,” Milroe said. “They’re steadily looking to get 1% better each and every day. I’m so proud of the guys because they never gave up. We have a great locker room and come to compete every single day. I’m just proud of the guys.”