The secret to unlocking Alabama's offense with Jalen Milroe? Start with the running game

Let the Alabama football offense eat cake. It's finally ready, per Nick Saban.

After comparing the quarterback competition to baking a cake back at SEC Media Days, he deemed the cake ready. Jalen Milroe is the starting quarterback. Saban made the announcement Monday.

"I think the cake has been in the oven, out of the oven, back in the oven," Saban said Wednesday. "I think it's ready to go."

There's plenty to fix across the board on the offense, though. How can offensive coordinator Tommy Rees put together an offense that thrives with Milroe at the helm? The Tuscaloosa News spoke with former Alabama quarterbacks Tyler Watts and Jake Coker to get some ideas as No. 12 Alabama (2-1) prepares to face No. 16 Ole Miss (3-0) on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS) at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

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OFFENSIVE LINE BREAKDOWN: What changes, if any, need to be made on Alabama football's offensive line?

The chicken or the running game

The chicken or the egg, which comes first? The passing game or running game?

For this offense to work on a consistent basis, Alabama must find a way to establish the running game. For Milroe to succeed as a passer, the ground game needs to step up. Joyless murderball predicted in the preseason has turned into nothing more but joyless inconsistent rushing.

"The better you are at running the football, the clearer the picture in the passing game is going to be," Watts said. "Not getting behind the chains. Not having to snap the ball in obvious passing situations where the defense knows exactly what you’re about to do."

That creates more pressure on an offensive line that is struggling to handle pressure right now, and it lends itself to more mistakes from the quarterback when the defense knows a pass is on the way.

Milroe will likely need to be part of the solution, though. In fact, including more quarterback-designed runs might be one of the smartest things Rees can do. That's not because Milroe is one of the best athletes on the team. That helps, but even if Milroe weren't the quarterback, more designed runs could help.

"That's a tremendous threat to defenses," Watt said. "The more he is able to do, it accounts for that defensive guy you can't really account for right now."

If Milroe is running, that gives Alabama an extra blocker in the form of a running back. Plus, if the defense is afraid of Milroe gashing them with his legs, it will force the opposition to spy him and bring more defenders into the box, opening up passing-game opportunities. Run-pass option plays will be valuable if teams fear the run more.

"Those RPOs, to me, are a great way of having an answer for when those defenses stack the box and you don’t have numbers as far as scheme goes," Coker said. "I love those options. If you can get a position where a play-action is a reputable way to draw the defense in, that’s the easiest way to give the quarterback relief."

Play to Jalen Milroe's strength ... literally

Receiver Jermaine Burton couldn't put a yardage on it, but he knows Milroe can chuck the football. Said Burton: "That boy's strong,"

"We be playing around in the indoor, and he be launching that thing," Burton said.

Milroe is not only strong but he's fairly accurate too on deep passes. He's 7 of 11 on deep throws (63.6%) for 262 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, per Pro Football Focus' charting.

Success in the running game will only create more opportunities for Milroe to launch a pass behind the secondary. Developing the offensive lineman in pass protection will also be key so that Milroe has enough time to make these throws.

Either way, this is one of the main areas working for Milroe at quarterback, and Alabama has to do whatever it takes to make sure it continues.

Build Jalen Milroe's confidence

Saban deciding to name Milroe the starter at the beginning of the week is no mistake. It's the first step in continuing to build confidence for Milroe. Coker understood the decision, having been through a similar situation in 2015 when he was competing with Cooper Bateman.

"When that finally comes and you feel like everybody is behind you and you know you can make mistakes and still be the starter, I think it lets you go out there and still play a lot more freely," Coker said. "For me, I was able to be a little more on-time with my throws. I second-guessed a few reads when I had that feeling of, “OK don’t mess up. You might be the second-stringer after this throw.”

The next step for Milroe to continue building his confidence is to have a strong outing against Ole Miss. He dominated Middle Tennessee, but he had rollercoaster-like performances in the only two starts he has against Power Five competition: Texas and Texas A&M.

"That's the only way he’s going to get that confidence," Watts said. "All the tools are there. It’s just focus it in, not making the mistakes and having that confidence."

Help Milroe further develop his game managing

It's clear Milroe can make the big play, whether with his arm or with his legs. That's been established. But he needs to make all the simple plays too so that he can get the ball in the hands of other playmakers.

"The greatest compliment we can give Jalen at the end of this year or the end of Saturday is, was he a game manager?" Watts said. "Which we have always tagged that in a condescending way, but to me, that means you did your job."

What does that look like? To Watts, it means taking care of the ball, distributing it at the right time, getting teammates in the right play, shifting the offensive line into the best protection and managing the offensive unit as a whole.

"Just distribute a catchable ball to a place it’s supposed to go and allowing that guy to advance," Watts said. "That’s important."

Disclaimer

Quarterback play hasn't been the only problem with the offense. The adjustments mentioned above won't make a significant enough of a difference if other offensive players don't step up, too.

Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: The secret to unlocking offense with Jalen Milroe