Dan Mullen: Jalen Milroe takes so many sacks because he doesn't take 'unnecessary risks'

Through the first half of Saturday’s game against Arkansas, Jalen Milroe took four sacks as Alabama took a 21-6 lead into halftime. He entered the matchup with 21 sacks through five games, including six times last week against Texas A&M.

Former Mississippi State and Florida coach Dan Mullen shared an interesting reason for that.

Mullen praised the way Milroe keeps control of the football and said he gets sacked so many times because he doesn’t take many risks. Because of that, his playmaking ability can get the Alabama offense back into games if needed.

“He takes care of the ball,” Mullen said on ESPN’s halftime show during Alabama vs. Arkansas. “We were talking, he’s been sacked a couple of times in this game. … He gets sacked because he takes care of the ball. He doesn’t take unnecessary risks because he knows they can come back if they take a sack and still have the opportunity to make explosive plays in the pass game. They can make up for it when they need to.”

Alabama’s offensive line has struggled so far this season, allowing an SEC-worst 26 total sacks this season entering Saturday’s game. While that’s also a reason Jalen Milroe gets taken down so much, Mullen said his ability to avoid forcing plays is part of the reason he hits the ground so much.

Still , the offensive line has plenty to clean up, and Saban pointed out a few areas he wants to see improve on his radio show this week.

“I would say if I had to point to one thing. Well, I guess that’s two things that we really need to get more consistent at. Because there are times when we do it extremely well and have really good success and there are times when we’re not doing that,” Saban said. “Especially with some of our younger players. And it really creates issues and problems for them to finish you know, blocks. And even last week when we struggled to run the ball, there were numerous occasions that we had a hole and if we would have just finished the block and pressed like we were supposed to, that we would have had more positive runs. But those fundamentals are really paramount in being able to finish.

“The pass protection issues were mostly on third down last week. A&M’s got a good pressure package. They didn’t really pressure us any way that we didn’t practice, aight? But it goes back to that same poise, confidence and execution. We make an out call because they’re bringing a guy off of on a pump stunt inside and we’re supposed to be 3-for-3. Tackle doesn’t go out, quarterback gets smacked. I mean, it’s just, it’s poise, confidence and believing and trusting in what we’re calling, what we’re doing and how we’re all working together to get things picked up.”