Kirby Smart sees Jalen Milroe as 'bigger, physical' version of Lamar Jackson

Saturday’s SEC Championship Game will be only the second time ever, and the first since 2009, that both teams enter the contest with undefeated records in conference play. That season saw Alabama take down Florida in Atlanta on its way to a national title win over Texas.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was the Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator at that time and was asked about that game on Monday. But a follow-up led him to praise Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe,  who one reporter inquired if he compared to Gators great Tim Tebow.

“No offense to Tim Tebow, but this guy is different,” Smart said. “I mean it was a different running style, very different running style in terms of what they did and how they did things. 

“It’s like when I used to ask my sons who they were playing with on the Madden game, and they would say, ‘I’m playing with the Ravens.’ And I would say, ‘Why are you playing with the Ravens?’ And they would say, ‘I got Lamar Jackson, and nobody can tackle him.’ Well, this guy’s a bigger, physical version of that. He’s playing in a different speed than everybody else when you watch it, and that’s the way the Madden game was for him.”

Alabama’s official roster lists its starting quarterback at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, but when Milroe came up for interviews on Monday, he revealed, like Smart stated, he’s bigger than that.

“Let’s see, with Thanksgiving, I’m probably 240,” Milroe said. “Nah, I’m just playing. I’m 6-3, but my weight ranges. We did have Thanksgiving, so I don’t know what I weigh now, but I’m more than 220.”

During his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2016, Jackson was responsible for 5,114 yards of total offense (3,543 passing, 1,571 rushing) and 51 touchdowns. Milroe hasn’t produced those kinds of numbers this fall, but he has been efficient and effective, especially of late.

Over Alabama’s last four games, the redshirt sophomore has thrown for 909 yards and eight touchdowns on 59-of-85 passing while adding 49 runs for 297 yards and seven scores. On the year, Milroe has passed for 2,526 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing 66.4 percent of his throws to go along with 439 rushing yards and 12 scores on 126 carries.

After leading Alabama to a last-minute win at Auburn, throwing a touchdown to Isaiah Bond on a 4th and 31, UA cameras followed fiery Milroe as he made his way onto the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium to celebrate the 27-24 victory, where he exclaimed, “Give me the Heisman.”

“That was an emotional moment,” Milroe said on Monday. “It’s all about now just fixing what I need to improve on from Auburn. There’s a lot of things I need to improve on to keep pushing toward our common goal. That was an emotional answer. I’m just looking forward to the challenge ahead of us this week.”

Whether he receives an invitation to New York or not will most likely depend on his performance against Georgia this Saturday in Atlanta. The Bulldogs lead the SEC in scoring defense (15.8 ppg) and total defense (294.3 ypg) but haven’t faced an offense like the Tide’s or a quarterback like Milroe. His dual-threat ability is something that has UGA’s attention this week.

“He is a tremendous, tremendous football player,” Smart said. “I mean, I didn’t really know until I got further into the games and watching them last night how good he really is at what he does. And I think anytime you can scramble and extend plays, á la Stetson, really anybody, it makes it harder to defend. 

“When you have the component of designed runs mixed in with that, it complicates it even more because he becomes an extra player, an extra guy to tackle, a physical guy to tackle, big, physical guy that has running back characteristics, but he has the ability to throw the ball, and he throws the ball well, especially off their play-action game. 

“He does a really good job of taking shots and throwing the ball downfield. He sees it well, and they’ve got a massive offensive line to protect him with. So when you’ve got ability to run the ball as a designed run and then you also can run the ball in your scrambles, it just makes it harder to defend.”

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