Nick Saban reflects on Jalen Milroe's recruitment, impact of Drake Maye

Back during his recruitment, you would have guessed Jalen Milroe would be wearing burnt orange during Saturday’s Alabama–Texas game. He was committed to play under Tom Herman in the 2021 recruiting class for just under two months. However, a couple of quarterback dominos wound up falling, getting Milroe to sign his National Letter of Intent with Alabama. One of them being North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

The quarterback board for Nick Saban went as such for the 2021 class. Maye earned the top spot, while Milroe was just behind him. Alabama was able to land a commitment from their top target in Maye, who wound up as the No. 45 overall player in the cycle. Unfortunately, Alabama was not in a spot to take two quarterbacks, meaning Milroe looked elsewhere.

“You know North Carolina’s quarterback? He was committed here. Drake Maye,” Saban said on Thursday via Hey Coach! “And for quite some time. I think Jalen Milroe had committed to Texas. Drake Maye was one, Jalen Milroe was two, and we were going to go down this quarterback line to see who hit. So, when we got Drake Maye, we lost Jalen Milroe.”

Milroe then wound up pledging to the in-state Longhorns out of Katy (TX) Tompkins. He was the type of quarterback Herman wanted to bring to Texas — an athletic runner with a good arm. Once in the class, Milroe became a huge recruiter and rallied the troops to Austin.

Well, things changed when Maye decided to flip his commitment. Going to play for the family school, North Carolina, wound up being his decision. Saban understood the decision from Maye and caused him to circle back on the top player available on their board, Milroe.

“Then, Maye switched to North Carolina. Which, his whole family — brother played basketball, parents both went there,” Saban said. “So, I got that. Then we went back to Jalen and said ‘we’d still love to have you come to Alabama.’ And he still wanted to come. So, it was great.”

Ironically, Quinn Ewers committing to Texas may have played a role in Milroe’s decision as well. Then a member of the 2022 class, the former Five-Star Plus+ prospect gave Herman a commitment on Aug. 14, 2020. Milroe decommited to Texas just three days later, opening the door for Saban to get back in the hunt.

The rest is history. Milroe signed with Alabama, Maye is now a star at North Carolina, and Ewers took an incredibly long road to be Texas’ starting quarterback. Three situations everyone likely wanted to be in from the start.

Now, Ewers and Milroe will be facing off against one another on Saturday night. A typical Dallas-Forth Worth vs. Houston battle — just taking place in Tuscaloosa, AL. All because Maye decided he wanted to play for former Texas head coach Mack Brown at North Carolina.