Alabama QBs in 2024

[Coach25]

It's all good. Opposing viewpoints are always welcome. We're just having a discussion. It's the off-season, so there's really nothing better to do.

To be clear, I don't think he was bad. I just think that If we are going to say that he was "pretty good", then that means we would be satisfied with the same level of QB play next year. I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one, wouldn't be satisfied with that level of play again.

He did have the game against LSU, but lots of QBs lit up LSU. The 4th and goal at the 31 play was a great play. He definitely had his moments, but when we measure his performance against the best 3 defenses we faced (Georgia, Michigan, Texas), there is a lot to be desired. We beat Georgia, but he didn't have the best game. He did make a few plays in that game when it mattered, but at the end of the day when you look at the entire season, he played his best against the mediocre defenses, and left a lot to be desired when we played against the best defenses. That's fine, if you're Auburn or Arkansas, but we're Alabama. The goal is to win a National Championship. If last season is all we have to go by, then I don't feel confident in our chances with him at the helm. That's not to say he can't. He just hasn't shown he can play at that level yet.

Oh I agree I love good discussion and opposing viewpoints. I wouldn’t say that accepting the same as last year will be considered good. He should grow and work on his issues like all second year starters. We have just been spoiled by having a great run of qbs in the past be very polished when they get the starts.

Those 3 teams were top 4 teams in country to be fair. A lot of teams struggled with those teams. I understand the standard at Alabama, but when was the last time a first year starter won a national title? He had us 1 defensive stop before overtime away from winning one.

I compare his first year to a lot of what Hurts did his first year. Great person, leader, athlete, but had a lot of flaws in his passing game. If you were to tell me at the begging of the season that he would have us a defensive stop in 4th quarter away from winning a playoff game and prolly the national title I believe everyone would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.

You have every right to be concerned about some of his flaws, his presnap reads, pocket presence, and footwork are a lot of areas he has to improve on.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Oh I agree presnap reads, pocket presence, and footwork should be his focus in offseason. I think he will have to battle to win the starting job. But being a coach I don’t understand why didn’t Rees didn’t call based on his strengths and not his weaknesses. After our by week I thought he had changed his play calling but against Michigan it went back to the begging of the season type calls. Move the pocket, zone read play actions to keep blitzes honest and having to make sure he isn’t handing off or running it, have quick check downs if he feels anything, Throw some screens, bring in max protection if you plan on going deep. That’s what makes Lane one of the best. He adjusts his offense to his players strengths and tries to masks the weaknesses.

Rees did try to call plays that played toward his strengths, but one of the main problems was Michigan had taken those plays away with the defenses they were running and forced him to "dribble left-handed", which if Kirby had done that, rather than putting TWO spies on JM that game may have turned out different. Michigan figured out the handful of concepts JM did well that Rees kept going to over and over throughout the season and made the decision they were going to run defenses to take away those concepts.

Again, when the playbook has to be scaled back to the degree it did, it doesn't take much for truly good defenses to handcuff you. The amazing thing is we were still in a position to win. But the bad snaps and a scaled back offense that couldn't schematically adjust to the things the defense was doing normally isn't a recipe for a "W".

 

[HighlandOak]

No offense, but I couldn’t disagree more with this part “I just don't understand how anyone can look at last season and say he did pretty good.”

He struggled some but he was the reason we beat LSU and made it to Atlanta. We saw what we had behind him. But there are so many factors that go in to a qb’s performance.

Player development, player ability, players flaws, footwork, understanding playbook, pocket presence, pre snap reads, blitz recognition, timing routes, OC play calls, OC offensive scheme matching what the qb does best, line protection, wr quality, wr abilities, route running abilities, drops, etc.

He lead us to victories over every team except the National Champions and the number 3 team in the country, won a SEC Championship, put the team on his back against LSU, had the last second dagger to Auburn, and had us in position to beat Michigan.

I’m not trying to argue I’m just saying not bad for your first year starting as qb at a program with the most pressure in the whole country.

And how good would they have done with first team reps all season?

 

[Coach25]

Rees did try to call plays that played toward his strengths, but one of the main problems was Michigan had taken those plays away with the defenses they were running and forced him to "dribble left-handed", which if Kirby had done that, rather than putting TWO spies on JM that game may have turned out different. Michigan figured out the handful of concepts JM did well that Rees kept going to over and over throughout the season and made the decision they were going to run defenses to take away those concepts.

Again, when the playbook has to be scaled back to the degree it did, it doesn't take much for truly good defenses to handcuff you. The amazing thing is we were still in a position to win. But the bad snaps and a scaled back offense that couldn't schematically adjust to the things the defense was doing normally isn't a recipe for a "W".

I agree when you have to dial back the playbook it makes it easier to defend. also the bad snaps were killer. But to say Rees tried to run plays oto Milroe strengths I will agree to disagree. To me he was bound and determined to hit the bigger plays especially in the first half. When you are having sack after sack you have to get the ball out of his hands or at least move the pocket to change the target point for the blitzers. IMO I would have run the play action through the zone read even on throwing plays and my reason for that is the eyes of the qb are up looking at the defense during the play action. This would help him see potential blitz’s coming. He could make quick read throws and if not there you have a rb in flat or he can pull it and run. This would have slowed down the amount of time Michigan could blitz because if he caught you out of position then that could be a house call run by Milroe. Rees improved throughout the year but his last three games were not his best play calling IMO. Not blaming him for the loss just would have liked to see more in game adjustments from him.

 

[Coach25]

And how good would they have done with first team reps all season?

They could have gotten better as well. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t have but when they had an opportunity they did not seize the bull by the horns. If Either qb would have came in and lit it up against USF we prolly would have had them the rest of the season.

USF game -
Buckner QBR - 10.4 - 5/14 - 34 yards passing
Simpson QBR - 15.1 - 5/9 - 73 yards passing

in comparison against a much better Texas team,

Texas game -
Milroe QBR - 60.1 - 14/27 - 255 yards passing

and that got him benched the next game. Not trying to argue or hurt anyone’s feelings, but you couldn’t go either either one of those qbs at that time and have the season we had.

 

[irvingtontide]

They could have gotten better as well. I’m not saying that they wouldn’t have but when they had an opportunity they did not seize the bull by the horns. If Either qb would have came in and lit it up against USF we prolly would have had them the rest of the season.

USF game -
Buckner QBR - 10.4 - 5/14 - 34 yards passing
Simpson QBR - 15.1 - 5/9 - 73 yards passing

in comparison against a much better Texas team,

Texas game -
Milroe QBR - 60.1 - 14/27 - 255 yards passing

and that got him benched the next game. Not trying to argue or hurt anyone’s feelings, but you couldn’t go either either one of those qbs at that time and have the season we had.

Against usf we had a downpour that led to an hour rain delay and a O-line that didn’t want to block for the new QB. You also have to add Milroe threw two horrible interceptions against Texas where he threw it right to the defender because he never saw either one.

We didn’t run 4 verts on offense the last three games every offensive play had an intermediate reciver plus a check down receiver. I don’t think those call were meant to be go deep I think that was what milroe was most comfortable with so it was his first option on every passing play. You mention running play action through the zone read with milroe reading the defense but they didn’t have faith in milroe to read the defense.

 

[gtgilbert]

No offense, but I couldn’t disagree more with this part “I just don't understand how anyone can look at last season and say he did pretty good.”

He struggled some but he was the reason we beat LSU and made it to Atlanta. We saw what we had behind him. But there are so many factors that go in to a qb’s performance.

Player development, player ability, players flaws, footwork, understanding playbook, pocket presence, pre snap reads, blitz recognition, timing routes, OC play calls, OC offensive scheme matching what the qb does best, line protection, wr quality, wr abilities, route running abilities, drops, etc.

He lead us to victories over every team except the National Champions and the number 3 team in the country, won a SEC Championship, put the team on his back against LSU, had the last second dagger to Auburn, and had us in position to beat Michigan.

I’m not trying to argue I’m just saying not bad for your first year starting as qb at a program with the most pressure in the whole country.

He only threw for 219 yards at LSU, and if I recall no touchdowns. That's not a good day for a QB with todays offensive oriented and pass oriented game. He was a dangerous runner for sure and that's what sealed the deal against LSU, but that's not really what the QB's role is supposed to be in the offense. The reason we needed the last second heroics to win against Auburn was because the offense production had been pretty poor that day. Including the 41 yard pass to win the game we only passed for 259 that day, so prior to the pass only 218 yards - again, not really a good day at all.

Our passing offense this year produced fewer yards than all but one offense in the last 10 years and that year was 2017 when we were unsettled with Hurts starting and Tua breathing down his neck and honestly both pushing to hard. Our 10 year average is 3885.6. This year was 3086 with JM being 2834 so that's a really big decrease. Average for the last 10 years with other first year starting QBs 4225 - yep, in the last 10 years QBs been more productive in their first year than their second so the whole 'first year starting' thing doesn't really seem to hold up under scrutiny. In fact, our best three years, were ALL years with first years starters.

 

[irvingtontide]

Oh I agree I love good discussion and opposing viewpoints. I wouldn’t say that accepting the same as last year will be considered good. He should grow and work on his issues like all second year starters. We have just been spoiled by having a great run of qbs in the past be very polished when they get the starts.

Those 3 teams were top 4 teams in country to be fair. A lot of teams struggled with those teams. I understand the standard at Alabama, but when was the last time a first year starter won a national title? He had us 1 defensive stop before overtime away from winning one.

I compare his first year to a lot of what Hurts did his first year. Great person, leader, athlete, but had a lot of flaws in his passing game. If you were to tell me at the begging of the season that he would have us a defensive stop in 4th quarter away from winning a playoff game and prolly the national title I believe everyone would have signed up for that in a heartbeat.

You have every right to be concerned about some of his flaws, his presnap reads, pocket presence, and footwork are a lot of areas he has to improve on.

Mac jones in 2020 is not that long ago for a NC under a 1st year starter.
The problem with seeing milroes year like hurts is that hurts was a true freshman that arrived in the fall if I’m not mistake. Milroe has been in the system for 3 years he should have been a good bit ahead of hurts by this point.

 

[gtgilbert]

Oh I agree presnap reads, pocket presence, and footwork should be his focus in offseason. I think he will have to battle to win the starting job. But being a coach I don’t understand why didn’t Rees didn’t call based on his strengths and not his weaknesses. After our by week I thought he had changed his play calling but against Michigan it went back to the begging of the season type calls. Move the pocket, zone read play actions to keep blitzes honest and having to make sure he isn’t handing off or running it, have quick check downs if he feels anything, Throw some screens, bring in max protection if you plan on going deep. That’s what makes Lane one of the best. He adjusts his offense to his players strengths and tries to masks the weaknesses.

Coaches tried zone reads and the result was the coaches having to take the read decision away and determine pre-snap if it was give or keep.

The checkdowns were absolutely called and in the gameplan. Watching the UM film, on most of the sacks the TE or RB were there right in the void from the pressure, but the ball was never thrown their way. Check out the unofficial assistant coaches video that's been posted a lot here and he'll show you exactly what was happening.

The 'strengths' we simply so narrow that it put us in a situation where we were to easy to defend. The playcalling against UM really wasn't all that different, but UM leveraged a different defensive look to dictate to us what the likely decision tree was going to be.

 

[gtgilbert]

It's all good. Opposing viewpoints are always welcome. We're just having a discussion. It's the off-season, so there's really nothing better to do.

To be clear, I don't think he was bad. I just think that If we are going to say that he was "pretty good", then that means we would be satisfied with the same level of QB play next year. I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one, wouldn't be satisfied with that level of play again.

He did have the game against LSU, but lots of QBs lit up LSU. The 4th and goal at the 31 play was a great play. He definitely had his moments, but when we measure his performance against the best 3 defenses we faced (Georgia, Michigan, Texas), there is a lot to be desired. We beat Georgia, but he didn't have the best game. He did make a few plays in that game when it mattered, but at the end of the day when you look at the entire season, he played his best against the mediocre defenses, and left a lot to be desired when we played against the best defenses. That's fine, if you're Auburn or Arkansas, but we're Alabama. The goal is to win a National Championship. If last season is all we have to go by, then I don't feel confident in our chances with him at the helm. That's not to say he can't. He just hasn't shown he can play at that level yet.

He had 219 yards and no passing TDs against LSU. Yes, many QBs lit LSU up, but he was not one of them...

 

[BamaInCummingGA]

I think some think he was not Bryce or Tua throwing the ball so he was not good. He was #5 in passing efficiency and #23 in completion percentage nationally.

Some said he did not improve throughout the season but he did (the Kentucky game was one of his best). He had an average game at Auburn but so did Bryce and we were one play away from beating Michigan and winning the NC while being hounded on the pass rush. Would some be saying this if we did win it all?

The competition will be good and may the best man win but if Jalen does we will be good.

Yes, I would. Just because the team is a play or two away doesn't mean anyone is above critique and without fault. Our defense won a lot of games for us as much as anything.

Did JM make some good plays? Sure he did.

It doesn't take a coach to see that JM could not read the defense pre-snap. He couldn't shift the protection and appears didn't know the hot route to go to to negate the blitz.

He simply could not make quick throws.
The coaches had to limit him on RPO because he couldn't read that.
It would be great if he progressed by leaps and bounds in the off season.
Can he do it? Don't know.
If he can I'll be behind him 100%.
My deal is that there needs to be a true open qb competition to see who is the best to run the offense and get the ball to all of the playmakers to different parts of the field.

 

[AlexanderFan]

I agree when you have to dial back the playbook it makes it easier to defend. also the bad snaps were killer. But to say Rees tried to run plays oto Milroe strengths I will agree to disagree. To me he was bound and determined to hit the bigger plays especially in the first half. When you are having sack after sack you have to get the ball out of his hands or at least move the pocket to change the target point for the blitzers. IMO I would have run the play action through the zone read even on throwing plays and my reason for that is the eyes of the qb are up looking at the defense during the play action. This would help him see potential blitz’s coming. He could make quick read throws and if not there you have a rb in flat or he can pull it and run. This would have slowed down the amount of time Michigan could blitz because if he caught you out of position then that could be a house call run by Milroe. Rees improved throughout the year but his last three games were not his best play calling IMO. Not blaming him for the loss just would have liked to see more in game adjustments from him.

What games did you watch where Milroe hit short routes quickly in the face of pressure?

Milroe chose the deep routes, not Rees.

 

[Coach25]

Against usf we had a downpour that led to an hour rain delay and a O-line that didn’t want to block for the new QB. You also have to add Milroe threw two horrible

Against usf we had a downpour that led to an hour rain delay and a O-line that didn’t want to block for the new QB. You also have to add Milroe threw two horrible interceptions against Texas where he threw it right to the defender because he never saw either one.

We didn’t run 4 verts on offense the last three games every offensive play had an intermediate reciver plus a check down receiver. I don’t think those call were meant to be go deep I think that was what milroe was most comfortable with so it was his first option on every passing play. You mention running play action through the zone read with milroe reading the defense but they didn’t have faith in milroe to read the defense.

No one said we ran 4 vertices every play. I said that he tried to call longer developing plays down the field. I agree he should have been benched for those 2 bad interceptions.

As to the down pour, I agree it effects the passing game, but do you think they should have pulled the other qbs and let Milroe come in? They were given the entire game.

The zone read is not only for what you run for people who have trouble reading defenses, qbs who are great athletes, qbs who have passing flaws, as well as lines who have trouble blocking, Tua ran it to perfection. If they didn’t have faith in Milroe to run a zone read he would have never stepped foot on the field at Alabama. The concepts are basic and he has to read 1 player if you run the read option and 1 player if you do a RPO the qb has to read the Mike.

 

[Coach25]

What games did you watch where Milroe hit short routes quickly in the face of pressure?

Milroe chose the deep routes, not Rees.

I watched all the games.
Did you ever see Milroe change a play call at the line on his own without looking to the sideline?
because I didn’t see him do that once, nor should he because he did have trouble pre snap reads. Milroe didn’t choose the routes he chose which route he threw to.

 

[CrimsonTitles]

He had 219 yards and no passing TDs against LSU. Yes, many QBs lit LSU up, but he was not one of them...

He lit them up with his legs. 219/155 from him would have been good enough to beat most teams, including Michigan, but one of his problems is that he thinks he's a pocket passer.

 

[irvingtontide]

No one said we ran 4 vertices every play. I said that he tried to call longer developing plays down the field. I agree he should have been benched for those 2 bad interceptions.

As to the down pour, I agree it effects the passing game, but do you think they should have pulled the other qbs and let Milroe come in? They were given the entire game.

The zone read is not only for what you run for people who have trouble reading defenses, qbs who are great athletes, qbs who have passing flaws, as well as lines who have trouble blocking, Tua ran it to perfection. If they didn’t have faith in Milroe to run a zone read he would have never stepped foot on the field at Alabama. The concepts are basic and he has to read 1 player if you run the read option and 1 player if you do a RPO the qb has to read the Mike.

I don’t think Rees was calling for the home run play as much as that’s what Jalen looked for. Most every play has a deep route option and I think milroe sees the deep ball as his bread and butter. Michigan refused to give him the deep ball but the underneath stuff you are calling for was ran all game and wide open bacause Michigan refused to let him have the deep ball. That’s on execution not play call.

As far as what I would have done 5/9(2 throw always) isn’t great but I would have stuck with Simpson for the next game and if he faltered I would’ve put Jalen back in then.

Realistically i would’ve liked to seen a true qb competition. We was told you can’t rush the cake and that it might go on past Texas. When we played MTSU that was not a completion we played milroe for basically three whole quarters and ran the other two in for basically mop up duty. We should’ve split the series up and seen who did the best.

 

[Coach25]

Mac jones in 2020 is not that long ago for a NC under a 1st year starter.
The problem with seeing milroes year like hurts is that hurts was a true freshman that arrived in the fall if I’m not mistake. Milroe has been in the system for 3 years he should have been a good bit ahead of hurts by this point.

Oh I agree with Mac, being a great starter but he set for a while to become the starter and also had Sark as OC, Smith, Waddle, Metchie as wr. I love what mac could do and not trying to say that wasn’t the best offense at Bama because it was but he had some world beaters at wr and one of the greatest OC ever.

Milroe is not on the same level as Mac, Bryce, Tua, but also for his first 2 years had a OC in B O who told him he should switch positions. Makes me wonder about how much development he really put in to Milroe. And this year he got a new OC and they combined together to be a play away from playing for a national championship.

 

[Coach25]

He lit them up with his legs. 219/155 from him would have been good enough to beat most teams, including Michigan, but one of his problems is that he thinks he's a pocket passer.

I wonder if that’s him or the offense scheme. That wanted him to stay in pocket more. Either way I agree I wish we would have gotten outside the pocket more or at least love the pocket more.

 

[Coach25]

I don’t think Rees was calling for the home run play as much as that’s what Jalen looked for. Most every play has a deep route option and I think milroe sees the deep ball as his bread and butter. Michigan refused to give him the deep ball but the underneath stuff you are calling for was ran all game and wide open bacause Michigan refused to let him have the deep ball. That’s on execution not play call.

As far as what I would have done 5/9(2 throw always) isn’t great but I would have stuck with Simpson for the next game and if he faltered I would’ve put Jalen back in then.

Realistically i would’ve liked to seen a true qb competition. We was told you can’t rush the cake and that it might go on past Texas. When we played MTSU that was not a completion we played milroe for basically three whole quarters and ran the other two in for basically mop up duty. We should’ve split the series up and seen who did the best.

Not all plays call for a deep route. There are concepts and depending on the defense alignment you put pressure on certain players at certain positions. As far as a “true competition” there was one all fall camp. Milroe got first chance coming out of fall camp. He lost to Texas and was benched for an entire game.

You say you’d have like to have seen the first week us split up evenly. If you come out of fall camp and think Milroe gives you the best chance to win, what in his 5 td performance against them with a 94 passer rating make you want to take him out in that game for?

if he struggled in that game I’m sure they would have brought the other two in earlier in the game but to bench a qb who had 5 tds in his first start is non realistic.

 

[Coach25]

Coaches tried zone reads and the result was the coaches having to take the read decision away and determine pre-snap if it was give or keep.

The checkdowns were absolutely called and in the gameplan. Watching the UM film, on most of the sacks the TE or RB were there right in the void from the pressure, but the ball was never thrown their way. Check out the unofficial assistant coaches video that's been posted a lot here and he'll show you exactly what was happening.

The 'strengths' we simply so narrow that it put us in a situation where we were to easy to defend. The playcalling against UM really wasn't all that different, but UM leveraged a different defensive look to dictate to us what the likely decision tree was going to be.

That’s not how the zone read works and a coach would not call a true zone read without having the qb read the d end.