Nick Saban explains asking Jalen Milroe to play like a point guard, how it's led to growth

At basically every available turn this season, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has hammered home a simple message about what he wants from Jalen Milroe, his quarterback: Be a point guard. It’s a simple message that Saban said he’s found resonated with Milroe.

And it’s not a mantra that Saban has necessarily used before, he said on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday. It has just fit for Milroe this season as Saban and Co. have tried to help him see his role and how it fits into the broader success of the team.

“Well I think that it’s just something that I thought would be apropos for Jalen in terms of his thought process. How important it is for him to execute and not think that he has to make every play, but that distributing the ball to the right place is actually making plays and the whole idea is to play winning football at your position and making good choices and decisions is probably the key to the drill there, much like a point guard in basketball,” Saban said.

Alabama is 5-1 in the six games Milroe has started — he didn’t play against USF in Week 3 and has been the starter ever since — and since throwing three interceptions in his first three games, Milroe has turned it over once through the air in his last three games.

The passing efficiency has fluctuated at times. Milroe followed up a career-high 321 passing yards on a 63.6% completion rate against Texas A&M with 238 yards on a 47.6% completion rate against Arkansas. But in those two games: Five passing touchdowns and one interception, as Alabama won both games.

Plus, there’s a distinct rushing upside.

It hasn’t been perfect, but Saban’s seeing Milroe internalize the message about getting the ball out of his hands and to the right spots so his talented teammates can share the load.

“So it’s not something I’ve used in the past but I do think it’s sort of something that resonated with him, that’s helped him grow and develop at the position,” Saban said.

And as Milroe goes, Saban said, the team can go.

“Well I think he has a better understanding of the expectation for him in terms of how he influences, impacts the offense through his execution. So I think that he’s developed a lot more confidence and I think that he has to continue to grow and develop the ability to sort of be able to sustain — nobody can play perfect, so there’s going to be some bumps in the road that you have to go through. But how you manage those, I think, is really, really important,” Saban said. “And I think that’s something he’s gotten much better at as well. And I think that’s critical at the quarterback position because everybody else on the team, the offensive team, is kind of looking to you for that kind of confidence and ability to execute.”