Kalen DeBoer offers an honest appraisal of Jalen Milroe’s growth after the spring game

Kalen DeBoer likes what he’s seeing from Jalen Milroe

Saturday’s A-Day at Bryant-Denny Stadium heralded the start of a new era for Alabama’s football program. For the first time in over two decades, famed head coach Nick Saban will not be on the Crimson Tide sidelines. Instead, it will be Kalen DeBoer, the former Washington Huskies head coach who turned his team’s College Football Playoff appearance last year into probably the most coveted coaching position in college football. DeBoer will become the 28th head coach in program history, but there will be no transition time. Championship expectations are just part of the job in Tuscaloosa, but thankfully for DeBoer, he has a fantastic roster to work with this season.

Jalen Milroe, the Alabama football team’s quarterback, began last year as an inexperienced starter but blossomed into one of the most dynamic players in the country by the end of the season. Milroe placed sixth in the Heisman Trophy vote and was awarded SEC Championship Game MVP for Alabama’s victory against Georgia. Now that he has completed a full season as a starter and is led by one of the top offensive coaches in the country, the 21-year-old senior quarterback’s expectations are sky high. But for Kalen DeBoer, Milroe’s work this spring has been all about making small improvements before the season begins.

“It’s something that’s progressed throughout the spring,” DeBoer said on Saturday when asked about Alabama’s offense scoring swiftly on multiple drives in the first half (h/t Spenser Davis of Saturday Down South). “It’s all about timing, confidence, reading progressions, and so forth. And recognizing ‘there’s my one-on-one’. ‘That’s my boy. Where to place the ball. So I believe it has reached this point, and it was amazing to watch him [Milroe] continue to take the next step and improve. So, throughout the previous week or two, I believe it has been very steady. Early on, I can’t say any of the quarterbacks were just dialing in and making those plays.”

Last season, the Washington Huskies had over 120 more passing yards per game than Alabama. Washington’s ability to make large passes downfield was a major contributor to the massive gap between the two schools. According to Spenser Davis, the Huskies had the most plays with 10 or more passing yards in the country last season. Bama is tied for ninth in the SEC in the same category. Of fact, this has almost as much to do with individuals as with scheme. Yes, bringing in Kalen DeBoer will make Alabama’s passing game more explosive, but Jalen Milroe isn’t as good a passer as Michael Penix Jr., and Alabama’s receivers aren’t as talented as Washington’s.

Maybe that will change this year. Perhaps come September, DeBoer’s Crimson Tide offense will resemble the Huskies’ offense from last year, with this added twist: Michael Penix Jr. was far from the running menace that Jalen Milroe has proven to be. Last season, Milroe carried for 531 yards and 12 touchdowns, a dynamic that Washington’s offense lacked. Surely, Kalen DeBoer will find the greatest methods to use his Heisman hopeful quarterback, like he did with Penix last year.