Kalen DeBoer is doing a great job of bringing the best out of Jalen Milroe and Kirk Herbstreit sees it.
Alabama football is preparing for a massive matchup on Saturday with SEC rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs. This contest is expected to be a very entertaining one between two of the premier programs in the country.
One of the X-factors for the Crimson Tide is of course quarterback Jalen Milroe, who is truly a dual-threat. New head coach Kalen DeBoer is no stranger to having a signal-caller who can throw the ball deep and gain yardage with his legs, helping Michael Penix Jr open up the offense during his time at the University of Washington.
Kirk Herbstreit has seen that DeBoer has done the same thing with Milroe, helping him become more of a threat as a runner, which he believes will be absolutely massive in the outcome on Saturday.
Via On3 Sports:
“I think when we found out that Kalen DeBoer was going to be the coach to replace Nick Saban, we thought, ‘Oh, okay, he’ll probably bring that Michael Penix offense to Tuscaloosa and run that with Jalen Milroe,'” Herbstreit said on SportsCenter Friday night. “But if you’ve been watching them here in the early part of this offense, Kalen DeBoer has done exactly what you’d expect: adjust to his personnel, which means utilizing No. 4 – yeah, he can throw the ball, and the deep ball, by the way, will be what Georgia needs to be able to defend against.
“But you want to be able to utilize this: when Bama is rolling with Jalen Milroe, it’s his ability to create. It’s his ability, even if you have a plan for his legs, at the end of the day, you’ve still got to go out there and execute. And that’s what Kirby’s probably been thinking about all summer, not just this week, is, ‘We’ve got to make this guy play from the pocket. We’ve got to spy him with one, spy him with two.’ They just played him last year in Atlanta, so they have a really good feel for what worked and what didn’t. If they can contain him, they can get out of here with a win.”
Milroe is enjoying a solid start to the campaign for Alabama football. He's already thrown for 590 yards and eight TDs against zero interceptions. On the ground, Milroe has rushed for 156 yards on 36 carries for six touchdowns. Needless to say, he is more than just a gunslinger. DeBoer sees his strengths and is making sure to utilize them in the best possible way.
We'll see if it can lead the Tide to a victory in Week 5.
