Replacing a championship-winning head coach might be the most difficult job in the profession.
Tasked with replacing a coach widely considered to be the greatest to ever trod the sidelines in Nick Saban, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer might be facing the most difficult job in college football history.
Disproving any doubt about DeBoer’s ability to thrive in such a high-pressure environment relies on the coach’s new quarterback, Jalen Milroe, and the motto Milroe has championed for the Crimson Tide: Let All Naysayers Know.
DeBoer’s brief but successful tenure at Washington earned him the Alabama job in January.
His ability to bring out the best in quarterbacks transformed Michael Penix Jr., once written off due to injuries, into a Heisman Trophy finalist and top-10 NFL draft pick.
Before reuniting with Penix at Washington, having previously worked as Penix’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator at Indiana, DeBoer and his staff oversaw the career resurgence of Jake Haener. Haener passed for 33 touchdowns and almost 4,100 yards on DeBoer’s 10-win Fresno State team in 2021.
Glimpses of another potential quarterback success story under DeBoer’s tutelage highlighted the coach’s Alabama debut. Milroe needed only seven completions to rack up 200 yards passing in the Crimson Tide’s 63-0 Week 1 blowout of Western Kentucky.
An 86-yard connection with Ryan Williams capped a first quarter in which Milroe also ran for a 12-yard touchdown. It was an impressive bounceback from a shaky opening drive, during which Milroe took a sack and fumbled.
“He threw it less than 10 times; not a big sample size there. But when he did have those opportunities, he took off.” DeBoer said of Milroe’s performance, touting what he called “undervalued” traits from the quarterback. “I loved the touchdown pass to [Kendrick] Law where he stepped up, was decisive, had his eyes downfield.”
Milroe finished the day with three passing touchdowns and two rushing, tying him for fourth-most ever in a single game at Alabama. The Hilltoppers couldn’t put up the resistance; any number of SEC defenses will show Milroe.
Still, the quarterback took an important first step toward following immediately where Penix left off at Washington as a Heisman contender.
“It was awesome,” Milroe said after Saturday’s win, speaking of building his relationship with DeBoer in the offseason. “What made it awesome is that all the work that was done in the dark is coming out to shine today. And I’m super excited for our offense, super excited for our football team, because we’ve had so much growth that I’ve seen.”
Milroe’s description of working in the dark with results coming into the light seems an apt, if unintentional metaphor for the quarterback toiling in the shadows of the many champions, All-American and Heisman candidates at Alabama who played the position for him.
His successor, Bryce Young, became the Crimson Tide’s first quarterback ever to win the Heisman in 2021. Young’s run to the sport’s top individual honor provided a crescendo for ever-improving quarterback play at Alabama in the Saban years.
The lofty standard Milroe pursues mirrors that of his coach. In this regard, they are an ideal pair for this pivotal moment in Alabama football history.
