Jesse Minter reveals what stands out about Jalen Milroe, Alabama offense

Coordinator Jesse Minter and the Michigan defense will have perhaps its toughest test of the 2023 season in trying to contain Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe when the two teams meet in the College Football Playoff semifinals. And Minter’s primary takeaway from watching Milroe’s tape: The Crimson Tide quarterback is a supreme athlete.

Milroe’s dual-threat ability is one of his main selling points as a quarterback. He’s a devastating, fast and physical runner, and Minter thinks the Alabama offense settled into a formula that suits Milroe and his reservoir of talent.

“Jalen is a phenomenal athlete, first and foremost. A great football player. He can do a lot. I really think they’ve settled into what he does really well over the course of the season so give a lot of credit to Tommy Rees, coach [Nick] Saban, their coaching staff for kind of — I think early in the year, any time you have a new starter, it’s kind of maybe think you know what his strengths and weaknesses are and then you get out there and play, play in the games games that they play in. He’s an elite athlete. He’s an elite runner,” Minter said.

Minter didn’t want to let Milroe’s rushing ability overshadow his ability as a passer, which has also improved as the season has progressed.

He threw just a pair of interceptions in the final six games of the regular season after coughing it up four times in the air through the first six contests. He’s also thrown for multiple touchdowns in seven of Alabama’s final eight games — the lone game without he actually came up empty through the air but scored four times on the ground.

Milroe’s ability to punish teams not just by running, but throwing — and the second-reaction plays created because of his-dual threat ability — stood out to Minter during his initial study of the Alabama quarterback.

“But he’s a really good quarterback. He throws the ball better than I think most people give him credit for. He’s made a lot of big plays on deep balls this year and he’s really capable of making that second play, which is a lot times the most dangerous as a defense to — you stop the play or you cover the deep route, everybody’s deep and in their zones and then he has the ability to take off,” Minter said.

The Michigan defensive coordinator wasn’t spilling any secrets about scheme choices to combat what Milroe can do, but Minter did give a broader idea of what his unit needs to do to contain the talented quarterback.

“So we’ve gotta play really disciplined, really together, really as one in a lot of our things that we’re trying to do. And we look forward to the great challenge that he is,” Minter said.