Tim Tebow, Roman Harper identify areas of improvement for Jalen Milroe, Alabama offense

Tim Tebow and Roman Harper joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Friday, where they discussed Jalen Milroe’s performance in Alabama’s loss to Tennessee in Week 8.

Milroe was far from perfect against the Volunteers, completing 25-of-45 pass attempts for one touchdown and two interceptions, amassing 239 yards. Additionally, he only rushed for 11 yards on 14 carries. Ahead of this weekend’s clash against Missouri, Tebow tried to make sense of the quarterback’s struggles.

“It’s not just him,” Tebow said, regarding who needs to play better for Alabama to get back on track. “It’s so easy for us to say, ‘It’s just on him,’ I think it’s fair to say it’s a mixture of all the above. I would say offense, defense and special teams. I know this isn’t a profound answer, but it’s the little things. It’s when you can’t run the ball on first down, and it’s second, third and long. That was over and over against Tennessee.

“It’s when you have receivers that just don’t catch it out of their distance. It’s when he doesn’t throw it quite accurately enough to make it an easy catch. It’s when one or two of the receivers slip. It’s when they’re not on the same page and he throws an interception, you know, early in a goal to go situation. Those are little things that if they hit, all of a sudden, it changes the course of the whole entire game. So it’s — can he play better? Absolutely, but I think it’s a little bit on a lot of people that as a unit, you have to play better.”

Meanwhile, Harper put the onus on the Alabama coaching staff, as well as the team’s offensive line, but doesn’t believe Milroe has been innocent in the Crimson Tide’s struggles throughout 2024.

“I didn’t think they protected the edge as well. You had free runners at running backs and people all day long. That was not good, as far as game-planning wise, so that’s another part of it that you talk about, game-plan matters. I thought Jalen Milroe was off,” Harper added. “I thought he was inaccurate on a lot of throws, throws that I’ve seen him make. He was hesitant on one that they had a cover-three beater down the slot. He missed him. He just didn’t throw it. Then, he tried to go back to the flat late and overthrew the guy. So, it’s all these little plays.

“… If you don’t block guys that are in full-sprint stance to come rush the quarterback or the running back, they are going to make the tackle in the backfield. … It was like they didn’t know Tennessee was going to rush that hard, or that their defensive line was going to be that effective.”

Regardless, Alabama and Jalen Milroe are hoping to bounce back in a big way this weekend against Missouri, and a win would go a long way towards beginning to heal their wounds.