Nick Saban describes where Jalen Milroe has developed

It’s not often a quarterback gets benched as the starter and then is right back in the starting role two weeks later, but such was the case for Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.

And it wasn’t due to injury or anything like that. Instead, Milroe just appeared to be the best option the Crimson Tide had after trying three quarterbacks. So he resumed the role.

Since then his development has been quite encouraging.

“I think that he has developed for us offensively,” coach Nick Saban said Thursday on the Pat McAfee Show. “I think it’s developed with the passing game. We still have things to clean up. We can still be a little more consistent in the passing game, but we have made a lot of explosive plays.”

Milroe has thrown 11 touchdowns while tossing just four interceptions. He’s racked up 1,397 passing yards, about 233 per game.

Meanwhile, Alabama has not lost since Milroe took back over the starting job, out to a 5-1 start to the season. They’ll be looking to continue that, extending their streak of wins in the SEC to five this weekend against Tennessee.

Milroe and the trust he’s built will be a big part of that.

“I think Jalen has done an outstanding job of communicating, showing leadership with his teammates,” Saban said. “I think his teammates have grown confident in him, which I think is important. It would be important to all of us if we’re playing on a team that everybody believes in you, trusts in you, you have great relationships with the people that you’re playing. I think that creates a lot of positive things.”

Through it all, Alabama has quietly turned into one of the more explosive offenses in the country. The Crimson Tide rank 24th nationally in plays of 20-plus yards, with 38 so far.

Saban explained that’s in part due to Milroe.

“That’s something that we want to be able to continue to do, but to AJ (Hawk)‘s point before, when you run the ball effectively, sometimes those explosive plays are out there for you to get because of the way they’re playing you on defense,” the Alabama coach said.

In other words, Jalen Milroe is creating some explosive plays based on his ability to run, which in turn drags additional defenders into the box.

Milroe and Alabama will look to keep things rolling this weekend against Tennessee, with the game kicking off at 3:30 p.m. ET with a broadcast on CBS.