The cake is fully out of the oven. Unlike last year’s SEC Media Days, there’s no discussion of Alabama baking up a quarterback competition this week in Dallas.

Jalen Milroe is undoubtedly the Crimson Tide’s man behind center. Now the conversation has turned toward what the returning starter’s second course will look like this fall.

During his debut season as a starter, Milroe completed 65.8% of his passes for 2,834 yards and 23 touchdowns with six interceptions while adding 531 yards and 12 more scores on the ground. That playmaking ability saw the dual-threat quarterback finish sixth in last year’s Heisman Trophy voting while leading Alabama to an SEC title and a trip to the College Football Playoff.

Now the question is whether the redshirt junior can take his game to the next level in Kalen DeBoer’s new high-flying offense. During his Wednesday appearance at SEC Media Days, the first-year Alabama head coach spoke glowingly about his quarterback’s progress behind center and how he’s impacted the team this offseason.

“Obviously we’ve got to talk about what he does on the football field and he’s got a skillset that is special,” DeBoer said. “He can with his arm make you pay and make the throws and I think he’s continued to grow in that area building confidence in himself; just tirelessly working with the receiving corps, actually all the skill players to just be on the same page.”

Last season, Milroe’s success through the air came primarily through the deep ball. According to Pro Football Focus, the strong-armed passer ranked third nationally with a 96.9 deep-ball grade, going 35 of 67 for 1,267 yards and 16 touchdowns with an interception on throws that traveled over 20 yards past the line of scrimmage.

Conversely, Milroe struggled in the intermediate passing game where he was forced to read and pick apart defenses. According to PFF, he completed 52.3% of his throws (34 of 65) between 10 and 19 yards past the line of scrimmage and tossed four of his six interceptions on passes in that range.

In order to master DeBoer’s offense and take the next step as a passer, Milroe will need to improve on those numbers. Fortunately for Alabama, the redshirt junior has shown plenty of promise in that area over the past few months.

“I think he’s continued to expand on his game with the different throws he can make down the field he’s been strong,” DeBoer said. “He was one of the best players in the country last season with downfield throws. I think he’s continued to work on those higher percentage throws you need to have to move the chains and all of that.

“But he just dives into it and there’s no one that’s going to beat him into the facility from a player's vantage point. He’s there at 4:30, 5:00 [in the morning] for sure every single day. I know there’s guys that try to beat him into the facility and they can’t. But when he’s there it isn’t just punching in the clock. He’s done a great job being efficient. Doing everything he can whether it's mentally, physically, to be ready for this fall.”

Milroe’s former head coach believes the mental side of his approach will influence his development more than anything. Serving in his new role as an ESPN broadcaster, Nick Saban has spoken out about Milroe several times this week, stating that the quarterback has all the tools to be an elite passer if he continues to approach things the right way mentally.

"Well, I think Jalen Milroe obviously is a guy that is a fantastic athlete," Saban said Monday. "When he stays in the right place emotionally and focuses on the next play -- he's a great competitor -- [and] not get frustrated when things aren't going exactly the way he wants them to, if he can just stay on that path, he has a tremendous impact on the offense."

Last year, Saban worked with Milroe, telling him to consider himself as a point guard while focusing on distributing the ball to the other playmakers on the team. That approach paid off, as the quarterback tossed just three interceptions over his final 10 games while finishing the season ranked fifth nationally with a 172.17 passer rating.

“The more he got into that mindset where he didn’t have to make the play, he was more effective player,” Saban said. “And he got better and better and better as the season went on, and I think he’s going to have a great year this year.”

The other thing Milroe will have to improve on is his ability to get the ball out quicker. Alabama ranked 125th nationally allowing 3.5 sacks per game last season. Several of those came as Milroe held on to the ball too long looking to make a big play.

“Sometimes when you’re a great athlete, you think you’re going to outrun everybody sideways,” Saban said. “But when [Jalen] started to step up in the pocket, he made more plays running and made some explosive plays down the field.”

Saban said he noticed more maturity in the pocket from Milroe later in the year and expects him to continue to progress during his second season as a starter. And if the dual-threat quarterback can put everything together this fall, his former head coach predicts him to be a nightmare for opposing defenses.

“The one thing about Jalen Milroe that a lot of these other quarterbacks can’t do is make you play different on defense,” Saban said. “You can’t rush four guys. You’ve got to have a rat [a player to guard against Milroe’s running ability] mirroring, spying him. … It’s not easy to play man-to-man. You start playing man-to-man, everybody has their back to the quarterback, the guy takes off, and there’s nobody to get him on the ground. So he makes you play different on defense which I think makes everybody else on their offense better.”