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Under the watchful eye of Nick Saban, Jalen Milroe has transformed into a complete quarterback. And he’s a big reason the Crimson Tide are alive in the national title picture. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) (Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)
Even by his own cranky standards, Nick Saban was exceptionally annoyed. On April 22 of this year, Saban, sporting a jacket as blue as the sky over Bryant-Denny Stadium, stomped, sulked and seethed. Four quarterbacks took turns running the Alabama offense during the Tide’s A-Day spring practice, and all four quarterbacks floundered to one degree or another.
“The biggest thing we’re working on with the quarterbacks is, fundamentally, what they have to do to be able to process what the defense is doing,” Saban spat after the day was done. “Have a plan in your mind: ‘This is where I’m reading, this is where I’m going, this is the progression that I want to go through,’ and trust in that and believe in that and not start drifting around in the pocket.”
For the first few weeks of the season, it wasn’t just the quarterbacks drifting around; the Tide, from Saban on down, seemed adrift. A loss to Texas — one that’s still haunting the eighth-ranked Tide, by the way — plus a win over South Florida that was a one-possession game for more than 59 minutes led pretty much every observer outside Tuscaloosa (and quite a few within) to conclude that the Alabama locomotive was at last slowing down.
And then something remarkable happened. Milroe, benched during that USF game as a way of giving Tyler Buchner and Ty Simpson some playing time, returned to the starting lineup a changed man. The ball zipped from his hands quicker and ended up in the right receivers’ hands more often. And as a result, Alabama kept winning, and winning, and winning.
Pro Football Focus grades Milroe out at a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jalen-milroes-transformation-into-a-complete-qb-has-fueled-alabamas-revival-025319272.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-11-17 02:53:19
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