What Kalen DeBoer said about Alabama QB Jalen Milroe at SEC Media Days

DALLAS – Kalen DeBoer recalled a moment from last week when Jalen Milroe spoke up.

Alabama is wrapping up its summer workouts and player-led practices, ahead of fall camp in two weeks, and the Crimson Tide quarterback recently stood up and made his voice heard.

“Positive but also accountability, that mix of everything that great leaders do,” said DeBoer on Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “Building up their teammates but also just reminding them of what it’s going to take for us to reach the goals that we have. He does a great job of balancing that. I think he’s grown in a lot of ways when it comes to that area.”

Few were questioning Milroe’s leadership. He was one of the most vocal players following the retirement of head coach Nick Saban and helped to rally the team around DeBoer’s hire. Last year, he was also voted a permanent captain by his teammates at Alabama.

One of the big questions surrounding Milroe as he gets set to lead the Tide for a second year in a row is whether he can take the next step and improve on his 2023-24 campaign. 

Working with DeBoer could benefit Milroe, as his new head coach last guided Michael Penix Jr. to a record-setting career and a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Leading an offense that was one of the best in the nation last year, Penix paced the country with 4,903 passing yards to go along with 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as the Huskies’ quarterback.

DeBoer was asked what it is about his offense that leads to success from the signal-caller.

“I think just continuing to grow his game, build confidence,” DeBoer said. “It’s new language, verbage that he’s gotta learn, directing the whole show and knowing the things that he can do within our system without making it too complicated. 

“That’s what Michael had, and he had a few years at it, right? Because we were together in 2019. In 2020, he ran the same system under Nick Sheridan at Indiana. In 2021 – I know those were partial seasons – but then 2022 and 2023 there at Washington. So he had multiple years. And so Jalen is just pouring himself into this, learning it as fast as he can. You’re never gonna question the work ethic of this guy. 

“From a passing standpoint, he’s got the skill set. He’s got the tools. And now, it’s just tying the footwork to the reads and the progression. Knowing when to take off and run. Knowing how to move the chains. Believing in each other that if you can go through your progression, we can call those shots down the field. If it’s not there and you check it down, the next time, we can call it again and be confident in calling them more often than less.”

Milroe started 13 of Alabama’s 14 games last season, missing only the South Florida contest as a head coach’s decision. As a redshirt junior, he passed for 2,834 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 65.8 percent of his throws. Milroe also rushed for 531 yards (after sack yards) and a team-high 12 touchdowns on 161 attempts as a dangerous dual-threat. After leading the Crimson Tide to an SEC championship, Milroe finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting before Alabama’s 2023 campaign ended in the Rose Bowl.  

The new coach has been complimentary of Milroe since landing in Tuscaloosa on Jan. 12, and that continued on Wednesday morning during his time at the Omni Dallas Hotel.

“He’s got a skill set that is special,” DeBoer said of Milroe. “With his arm, he can make you pay and he can make the throws, and I think he’s continued to grow in that area, building confidence in himself, just tirelessly working with the receiving corps, actually all the skill players, just to be on the same page.

“I think he’s continued to expand on his game with the different throws he can make. Down the field he’s been strong. A year ago, he was one of the best in the country with down-the-field throws. I think he’s continued to work on those higher-percentage throws that you need to move the chains and all of that.”

The season will kick off late next month, but Milroe has put in plenty of work this offseason.

“He just dives into it,” DeBoer said. “There’s no one that’s going to beat him into the football facility from the players’ vantage point. He’s there 4:30, five o’clock for sure every single day, and I know there’s guys that have tried to beat him into the facility, and they can’t.

“But when he’s there, it isn’t just punching in the clock. He’s done a great job being efficient, doing everything he can, whether it’s mentally, physically to be ready for this fall.”

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