Alabama’s Jalen Milroe noncommittal after struggling in bowl loss to Michigan

Greg Auman

NFL Reporter

TAMPA, Fla. — If this was the end for Jalen Milroe at Alabama, it cannot be how or where he wanted it to end.

Missing out on the 12-team playoff and playing an afternoon undercard in the ReliaQuest Bowl against unranked Michigan, Milroe had three turnovers in a rainy first quarter and saw a last-minute shot to win end with four straight incompletions in a 19-13 loss to the Wolverines.

“It is truly an honor to wear the script ‘A’ each and every Saturday, win or loss. I don’t take it lightly at all,” Milroe said after the game, noting that he wanted to focus on the game and not answer specifics on his plans moving forward. “It’s been an amazing journey.”

It’s never a good thing when, in the same game where you’re asked if you’re leaving early for the NFL Draft, your head coach is also asked how much he considered benching you.

“I thought there were still a lot of good plays that he made,” first-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. “I saw, I guess, a fighter, the fight in his eyes, you know. As long as I see that, I want to hang in there with the guys that this program means a lot to.”

Milroe has followed a long line of Alabama quarterbacks under Nick Saban whose college success led to going high in the draft, from Jalen Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa to Mac Jones to Bryce Young. A year ago, Milroe finished sixth in the Heisman voting, throwing 23 touchdowns against six interceptions. This year, he took a step back, with 16 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. Alabama was good enough to hand Georgia one of its two losses, but also bad enough to lose to Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and now Michigan.

Tuesday’s loss put Alabama at 9-4 for the season. The last time the Crimson Tide failed to win at least 10 games was all the way back to 2007, Saban’s first season.

In a game in which Michigan — a defending national champion that needed a strong finish just to become bowl-eligible — had its top draft prospects opt out of the game, Alabama had its biggest talents still committed to playing.

But the game started disastrously for Milroe, first with a turnover on downs after going for it on fourth down just across midfield. Milroe then had three turnovers in a span of four plays, each setting Michigan up with drives that started in the red zone. The Wolverines had a 16-0 lead before the first quarter was over, despite having just 43 yards of total offense.

The rain let up, Milroe changed his cleats and his game improved. He had a touchdown pass in the second quarter, then a 41-yard run and 40-yard throw in the final minute before halftime to set up a field goal. But he ended up getting sacked five times, so despite that 41-yard run, he finished the day with 7 yards on 16 carries while completing only 16 of 32 passes for 192 yards.

He set himself up for a huge comeback, with a 25-yard pass to the Michigan 15-yard line in the final two minutes, only to have four straight passes go incomplete to allow the Wolverines to escape with the win.

DeBoer praised his quarterback for his attitude after the loss, saying he plays the right way even when he comes up short.

“When you’re the quarterback of a football team, the eyes are always on you, especially when you’re at Alabama,” DeBoer said. “You’re going through some ups and downs in the course of the season. It takes on a heavy burden sometimes. He stays the course. … The fight in him, the ability to move forward, everyone’s going to make a mistake here and there. I thought that’s one area where he’s really improved, especially the last half of the season, and I think our guys appreciate that in him.”

If Milroe were to enter this year’s draft, he would be somewhere in the second tier of a generally weak QB class, with early projections having him as a second-day draft pick, going in the second or third round. Top college quarterbacks are coveted in today’s world of NIL and the transfer portal, so it’s possible that he could have lucrative offers to finish his college career elsewhere.

Milroe spoke with confidence after the game about Alabama’s future — without committing to being part of it himself — saying despite a rare dip in wins, the expectation of success remains at the highest level.

“We have a lot of great dudes in the locker room that are hungry, that are looking to get better and uphold the standard,” Milroe said.

Whether he’ll be one of those dudes in the Alabama locker room going forward remains to be seen.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

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