Is Texas scared of Alabama football QB Jalen Milroe? It should be | Goodbread
Deep within the recesses of the University of Texas football facility, at some point on Sunday, Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski will flip on the tape of Jalen Milroe's dominant, five-touchdown performance against Middle Tennessee State and hunt for ways to attack the redshirt sophomore from Katy, Texas.
He'll get an idea of what the Alabama football offense is trying to accomplish under new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, and he'll see a well-coached player in Milroe, one whose development has been a work in progress not just this offseason, but for two-plus years.
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He'll also see a couple of traits in the quarterback that can't really be coached, not even by one of the best coaches to ever blow a whistle: athleticism and composure. Those are two things players generally just have or don't have. And they are two reasons why Texas could find Milroe awfully hard to defend on Saturday when the Crimson Tide plays host to UT (6 p.m. CT, ESPN).
Milroe's athleticism is certainly no secret. He's big, strong, fast and awfully tough to tackle once he's in full stride; the kind of skill that will keep Kwiatkowski up late this week. He's a quarterback who is every bit as dangerous as a running back when he decides to tuck the ball and take off. Arkansas learned that lesson a year ago. MTSU learned it Saturday as Milroe ran for 48 yards and two scores on just seven carries.
Composure, by contrast, isn't necessarily something Milroe was known for, nor is it something a quarterback with so little experience often displays. But it was there on Saturday night, and not just with a 28-0 lead, when being composed is so much easier. Take the low shotgun snap that rolled past Milroe's feet in a scoreless game, which he calmly picked up, avoided a sack, turned the corner on two defenders and rumbled into the end zone for a 21-yard score. Or another low snap, later in the game, which he corralled from his ankles just in time to make a clean handoff to Jase McClellan for a third-down conversion.
Milroe showed a poised presence in the pocket as well, stepping up when he felt edge pressure, and keeping his eyes downfield as he waited for receivers to break open. That's not an easy thing to do for a young quarterback who knows he can bail out of the pocket and make a big play with his feet. Indeed, he didn't always show the same level of patience in his brief playing time in 2022. It was also a turnover-free performance, another sign of a quarterback in command.
That, perhaps more than anything, is what should be of concern to Texas' defense.
Yes, Milroe has moments where he still looks the part of a young guy still learning; Nick Saban mentioned, for instance, that he missed a pre-snap check at one point when MTSU's defense was showing blitz. Yes, he's going to throw a few balls against the Longhorns that he'll want to have back. More important than that, however, is that those mistakes don't shake his confidence.
Texas' defense will already have its hands full dealing with an elite athlete playing quarterback.
The last thing it needs, on top of that, is to face a quarterback who can't be rattled.
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UA center Seth McLaughlin fired at least three shotgun snaps too low, all of which Milroe handled well. More of the same could be disastrous against Texas. McLaughlin said the ball slipped out of his hand on Milroe's first touchdown, and he later ditched a glove on his snapping hand and got better results.
Speaking of the Alabama offensive line, it performed well overall but didn't always get the necessary interior push, evidenced in part by a short McClellan touchdown run in the first half that was designed to go inside but had to be bounced outside.
Alabama was penalized just twice, an encouraging start in an area that plagued the Crimson Tide a year ago. That's a trend that UA needs to continue after being flagged 15 times for 100 yards in a 20-19 win over Texas last season.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23 and the Talkin' Tide podcast. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Goodbread: Why the Texas defense should be worried about Jalen Milroe
