Star Black quarterbacks are no longer the exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the football season, this series will explore the prominence and impact of Black QBs from the grassroots level to the NFL.
INDIANAPOLIS — Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A Texas-born Alabama quarterback who is a stronger runner than passer will likely be drafted outside of the first round of the NFL draft.
The quarterback went undefeated in the SEC as a first-year starter.
The quarterback never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The quarterback’s first name is even Jalen.
But this clearly isn’t about Jalen Hurts. He was busy winning Super Bowl MVP this winter rather than playing in the Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s former Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe, who at last week’s draft combine tried to make the case to coaches and evaluators that he — like his namesake — is worth being their franchise quarterback one day despite questions about his passing abilities.
“I’ve been through adversity. Everything as a quarterback, I’ve seen,” Milroe said on Friday. “I played in the hardest conference in the country. It would have been easier to play in other conferences, but what I was able to see in the SEC catapulted me to being ready to play in the NFL.”
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The Katy, Texas, native originally committed to Texas in 2019 but flipped to Alabama a year later. After sitting behind Crimson Tide starter Bryce Young for two seasons, Milroe took the reins for the 2023 season. He helped Alabama sweep through the SEC (8-0) that year, highlighted by a win over conference rival and two-time defending champion Georgia in the SEC championship that sent the Crimson Tide to the College Football Playoff.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards per attempt ranked third in the SEC in 2023), passing wasn’t his strong suit. Across two seasons as a starter, Milroe never topped 3,000 passing yards in a single season, the first Alabama starter to do that since … Hurts.
Hurts, a Houston native, led the Crimson Tide to back-to-back national championships between 2016 and ’17 but totaled less than 5,000 passing yards across those two seasons. While Hurts was an exceptional rusher (1,809 yards and 21 touchdowns) in that time span, his weaknesses as a passer famously led to him being benched for backup Tua Tagovailoa at halftime of the 2017 national championship.
At the combine, Milroe made the case that despite his pedestrian passing numbers, he’s still worthy of being a starter in the NFL.
He’s aware of his weaknesses and vowed to work his ass off to improve beyond being “one dimensional.” He could’ve transferred out when his legendary coach, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but he chose not to be a quitter. He ran six miles a day to make sure he had something left in the tank in fourth quarters. He studied progressions and post- and pre-snap reads to up his football IQ.
Unlike projected first-round picks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw at the combine on Saturday, hoping to show teams he had the mechanics to make it as an NFL quarterback. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and good placement on sail, curl and go routes during throwing drills but struggled with accuracy on intermediate out and post routes.
“It’s so many things I can learn more from where I am at today and where I’m going to be at when it comes to Day 1 starting in the NFL,” Milroe said before Saturday’s drills. “Always be a student of the game, always look to grow, because it’s going to be so many opportunities where I can look back and say this was the moment where I grew as a quarterback.
“That’s where I’m at right now, just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look to grow.”
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Milroe was asked about being yet another Alabama quarterback to make it to the combine, following in the footsteps of Hurts (who transferred to Oklahoma in 2019), Tagovailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the others’ company but added that it’s hard to compare him to the others.
“We had different teams, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when specifically asked what he could learn about Hurts’ journey—from run-first game manager to Super Bowl champion—Milroe said he was inspired by his fellow Alabama alum.
“The biggest thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head down [and] always continued to work,” Milroe said. “He’s always elevated his game, never got complacent, and all you see is great strides from him.
“And I gotta applaud him as a person, him as a human being, because he’s definitely inspiring for a lot of quarterbacks of my image and also a lot of quarterbacks around the country. He’s leading the way for all of us.”
The pair aren’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 pounds on Milroe back when he was in college. Milroe has the stronger arm, while Hurts played more mistake-free football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 sacks across two seasons as a starter compared to Hurts’ 10 interceptions and 43 sacks.
But they both could be game-changers when their teams needed them. In a highly publicized game against Georgia early last season, Milroe completed nearly 82% of his passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns while adding 117 yards on the ground for another two scores.
Milroe also can match Hurts in what are called “Jalen-isms.”
“Climbing a mountain ain’t easy but when you get to the top of that mountain you’ll learn so many things when it comes to adversity, when it comes to hardship, things along the way,” Milroe said at the combine.