Nick Saban believes Jalen Milroe will continue gaining confidence

Jalen Milroe is only going to get better and with that, comes more confidence as Nick Saban alluded to in his postgame presser.

Fresh off a 40-17 win over Mississippi State, Alabama is 4-1 and Milroe looks a lot more comfortable in the starting quarterback role lately. Milroe barely missed a beat in the passing game and dominated on the ground against the Bulldogs.

Saban talked about his quarterback’s evolution week-to-week.

“Well, I think he’s building more confidence every day,” Saban said postgame. “I think he’s played better in each game. And I think he’ll continue to do that as he gets more experienced. You know, I think we’re all a little smarter as we get older, because we have more experience. 

“So I think as he gains more experience, he’s going to gain more confidence. He’s very committed and prepares the right way and does the things that he needs to do to be able to play well in a game. I think as he gets more comfortable understanding defense, he’ll be able to make quicker decisions and he’s gonna be fine.”

Nick Saban highly confident in Jalen Milroe

Milroe finished the game 10-of-12 passing for 164 yards and ran 11 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns to lead the team on the ground.

This season, Milroe has 838 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions, a 69.2% completion percentage, 189 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Milroe was a four-star recruit out of Katy (Texas) Tompkins, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 16 overall prospect in the state, the No. 13 quarterback in the class and the No. 90 overall prospect in the class.

Saban has the perfect analogy for what he’s looking for out of his starting quarterback, though it’s an analogy from another sport.

“It’s almost like, and I’ve said this before, the quarterback’s got to have a sort of point guard mentality,” Saban said earlier this week. “You don’t have to score 35 points in the game to be a great point guard. You get 13 assists, you play good defense, you don’t turn the ball over, then you’ve played a good game because you distributed the ball to the right guys and they’re able to score, and you don’t turn it over. That’s what we need to do.”