Tommy Rees doing 'a great job' of implementing players' strengths

For the first time this fall, Alabama’s offense eclipsed 500 yards of offense as the Crimson Tide rolled over LSU’s defense during a 42-28 victory to remain unbeaten in conference play.

Alabama ran for a season-high 288 yards and six rushing touchdowns, and quarterback Jalen Milroe was responsible for 155 of those yards and four touchdowns in a huge week for the Crimson Tide’s starter, both of which were career-highs. Milroe made plays when things broke down, but there were also some designed runs mixed into UA’s game plan, too.

Offensively, Alabama seems to be steadily improving while new elements are added down the final stretch of the season – whether it’s Milroe’s runs or getting more reps for players like Jam Miller and Kendrick Law. On Thursday, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban praised the job of first-year offensive coordinator Tommy Rees in contributing to the upward trend.

“I think what he’s done is a great job of taking the players that we have and implementing what they can do best,” said Saban during his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “And I think we’ve had to make adaptations to be able to do that. I mean, we can’t do what we did last year all the time, but the things that we’re doing now can be just as effective, or more effective, and create more problems for the defense. 

“I think he’s done a really good job of that.”

Milroe has shown signs of steady growth since reclaiming the starting quarterback position after the South Florida game. The redshirt sophomore is currently second in the league in yards per passing attempt (10.4) and passer rating (171.09) and ranks among the top 10 nationally in both categories. Up to nine rushing scores, Milroe has been effective in multiple ways.

His progression has been noticeable, but it’s been centered around not doing too much.

“What we’re trying to do with Jalen and where he’s really improved is having a singular focus on the next play,” Saban said. “What I consistently talk about (with) him is focus on the next play. The next play might be the one that makes the difference in the game, so don’t worry about what happened on the last play.

“And we want to take what the defense gives. In certain cases, his running ability is going to be a factor for us, and we want to utilize that the best we can, and in other cases, the skill guys that we have and the arm talent that he has is something that we can take advantage of. It’s kind of a combination of both moving forward.”

Comparing competitive character to 2015 team

After Alabama lost to Texas in Week 2 of the season, Saban hearkened back to the 2015 team as his current squad continued to search for an identity. He made another comparison Thursday when asked if the Tide’s 2023 team reminds him of any he has coached in the past.

“They’re all different, all teams are different,” Saban said. “You want to try to feature the players that you have on offense, and defense, you’ve got to be able to adjust your system to whatever you’re going to see. I think the talent on every team is a little different, but if you’re talking about competitive character, I think it was 2015, we had quarterback issues early on. Jake Coker became the quarterback. We had a really tough, physical team that had to overcome a lot of adversity, had great perseverance, and they played that way. 

“I always say how do you manage hard? We had a really good team last year, but in a couple games that we lost, we didn’t manage hard at the end of the game very well. We made some mistakes that helped the other team and had to live with the consequences. This team so far has been able to manage hard really, really well and make some of the best plays in critical situations in the game, which when you have great competitive character, that’s what you have an ability to do. And I think that’s really, really important if you’re going to be successful.”

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