Size, speed and spirit have Jalen Milroe up and running at Alabama

It used to take a team effort to get Jalen Milroe suited up for games. Tompkins High School head coach Todd McVey still remembers the weekly locker room pantomime of players pulling and tugging at the quarterback’s shoulder pads and jersey in order to fit them tightly over his chiseled frame.

“It usually took four players to get it over the top and pull it down,” McVey recalled with a laugh. “He had his few guys in the locker room that always helped him get his stuff on. It was like a ritual. I’d walk in, and they’d be there trying to get his pads and uniform over him. It’s a good problem to have.”

Bringing Milroe down on the field requires even more effort.

Since coming to Alabama, the 6-foot-2 quarterback has bulked up to a rugged 212 pounds. His imposing size is paired with track-star speed, making him a big-play threat every time he elects to tuck the ball.

Arkansas fell victim to that playmaking ability last week as Milroe broke off a 77-yard scramble during the fourth quarter to help Alabama regain momentum in its 49-26 victory over the Razorbacks. During that run, the quarterback topped out at 22 miles per hour, according to Alabama director of applied performance, Paul Constantine.

“Jalen might be one of the fastest guys on the team,” Alabama left tackle Tyler Steen said after the game. “You might not be able to tell, but we’ve seen him in practice. He’s a guy who can fly, so that’s expected.”

With starting quarterback Bryce Young listed as a game-time decision for Saturday’s matchup against Texas A&M, Milroe might get another opportunity to show off his wheels this week. Heading into what could be his first collegiate start, here’s a look at how the redshirt freshman got off and running at Alabama.

Milroe’s first highlights at Alabama came in the weight room. Despite joining the Crimson Tide as a Rivals100 member, he struggled to find playing time during his debut season last year, appearing in just four games while serving as the team’s third option behind Young and backup Paul Tyson.

Instead, Milroe made his mark off the field, pulling off a series of eye-popping lifts. First came a video of him squatting reps of 500 pounds last summer. He followed that up by pumping 300-pound power clean reps with ease this past offseason.

Not one for weight-room heroics during high school, Milroe made the shift toward self-improvement at Alabama as a way to center himself while waiting his turn on the Crimson Tide’s depth chart. Taking a backseat behind center for the first time since he was 5 years old, he avoided frustration by falling back on his faith while focusing on the aspects of his life that he could control.

“He had to do something to channel his energy,” Milroe’s father Quentin told Tide Illustrated. “That’s what pushed him into the weight room. That’s what pushed him to fall deeper into his Bible study. He had to find where he could get strength from.

“He made his game days in the weight room. He made his game days on the practice field. He just focused on controlling his controllables. He couldn’t control his playing time or when he got on the field, but he could control how he prepared and strengthened himself.”

The process didn’t take long to pay off. Jalen’s patient approach allowed him to learn the playbook behind Young while strengthening his game on and off the field. It also saw him add a bit more power to his already athletic frame as he packed on 10-15 pounds over his first few months with the program.

Quentin remembers being in shock while visiting his son before Alabama’s spring camp last year. Waiting outside the team’s athletic facility, he and his wife practically did a double take as a beefier Jalen turned the corner to greet them.

“We were like ‘What in the world? Look at this dude,’” Quentin recalled. “You could see it then, and it was really crazy. It’s not just a saying, ‘built by Bama’ is a reality.”

As evidenced last week, the added weight hasn’t slowed Jalen down on the field. If anything, the added power has made him that much more difficult to catch. Just ask Alabama’s five-star pass-rushing duo of Will Anderson Jr. and Dallas Turner who both stated this week that they struggle to get a hand on the elusive quarterback during practice.

“It’s kind of hard even just trying to tap off Jalen,” Turner said. “Just his explosiveness and his athleticism, it kind of makes it a lot more difficult in practice.”

Quentin burst into a state of euphoria while watching Jalen’s game-changing scramble from the stands last week. He had a different reaction while reliving the play through a replay of CBS’ telecast a day later. His issue comes in play-by-play announcer Brad Nessler’s call of the 77-yard run.

“Milroe steps up in the pocket. He’s going to take off with it, and he’s getting the first down and a lot more,” Nessler said on the telecast. “This is what he can do.”

That second part left Quentin shaking his head.

“No, that’s not the only thing he can do,” Quentin interjected. “It discredits the work he has done since he was 4 years old. Even then he was throwing the ball, not just taking off and running. Those are the things that take away from the greatness God has put in him.”

Since introducing Jalen to football at a young age, Quentin has guarded him against the stereotypes placed on African American quarterbacks, who are often unfairly labeled as runners rather than throwers.

Due to his speed, Jalen’s little league coaches would often encourage him to scramble whenever he got the ball behind center. However, those suggestions were immediately snuffed out by his father, who instead instilled the importance of scanning downfield for bigger plays through the air rather than settling for easier options on the ground.

“He’d have the ball and the coach would be like, ‘Take off and run,’” Quentin said. “I’d stop him and be like, ‘No, that’s not what you do. Pick your eyes up, look downfield and see if you can hit a receiver. That’s your job as a quarterback.’ If everything breaks down, then it’s his job to take off, but that was always a secondary weapon for him.”

Look back at last weekend’s run against Arkansas, and you can see dad’s teaching in play. Scanning for receivers, Jalen was able to send a spying Bumper Pool in the wrong direction with his eyes before cutting past the linebacker at the line of scrimmage en route to the big gain.

“It’s so quick, and people really don’t see, but we’ve trained on that,” Quentin said. “He knows how to move people with his eyes and his hips because he’s always looking downfield. That little thing right there is what popped him open.

“I don’t think he gets credit for that. They say he can’t read progressions. It’s like ‘When?’ He’s been doing stuff like this ever since he started.”

While Jalen has been almost exclusively celebrated for his ability to make plays with his legs, those familiar with his game believe it’s only a matter of time before Nessler and the rest of college football discover what he can do with his through the air.

“He has the best arm I’ve coached in my career,” McVey said. “I quit warming up with him because my hands hurt. He has the rare combination where he can beat you as a runner or a passer. If you give him the choice, he’s going to read the field and make plays with his arm. But if you blitz him, he’s going to find that seam like you saw Saturday and take off. Pick your poison.”

Before hearing his number called against Arkansas, Jalen received a familiar piece of advice from his father. It’s the same message that has been passed down to him since his high school days and the same one he'll get this week.

“You do not control when you come in the game or how long you stay in the game,” Quentin told him. “The only thing you can do is seize the opportunity when it comes.”

The moment was certainly seized last week as Jalen replaced an injured Young in the second quarter, recording 156 total yards and two touchdowns while helping Alabama close a difficult win on road. Whether or not the redshirt freshman is called to repeat those heroics again this week is yet to be seen.

If so, expect him to take the opportunity in stride.