Run, Jalen, run.
Alabama football quarterback Jalen Milroe is far from alone as a playmaker in the Crimson Tide‘s new offense, but after a 27-25 win over South Carolina on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium, this much has become clear: the more read-option and designed run calls the fourth-year junior gets, the better off this offense is going to be.
That’s been fairly apparent prior to Saturday, but the point was driven home even harder against the Gamecocks. It was certainly obvious on UA’s second touchdown drive, in the second quarter, as Milroe’s legs fueled a 67-yard march that included 52 yards on the ground. He made the right reads on give/keep options and generated the drive’s lone explosive play with a 27-yard run. A few plays later, with South Carolina’s goal-line defense mindful of a possible Milroe sprint to the corner, a big hole opened inside to allow running back Justice Haynes an easy score up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown.
Milroe’s tough to tackle, to be sure, but the threat he brings makes the running back combination of Haynes and Jam Miller tougher to stop as well.
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It was obvious again when Milroe Ground & Pound briefly returned in the fourth quarter with a couple designed runs on first down that set up two second-and-short situations, only for South Carolina to snare an interception on a Milroe pass into the end zone. After the Crimson Tide defense got the ball back with a fumble recovery, Sheridan called a designed run to Milroe for a 7-yard touchdown and a recaptured lead.
In the end, the running skill of the most athletic quarterback in college football once again helped lift the Crimson Tide (5-1, 2-1 SEC) to a narrow win, this time as a heavy favorite.
None of this is to say that Alabama shouldn’t continue firing the deep ball to dynamic freshman receiver Ryan Williams, whose explosiveness must remain a cornerstone of offensive coordinator Sheridan’s attack. Nor should the Crimson Tide abandon the short passing game that Milroe continues to gain comfort with. But for Sheridan, it’s now clear enough that the Alabama offense struggles most when it strays too far from the run game.
Lest anyone forget, it was 117 Milroe rushing yards that largely sparked Alabama’s win over Georgia. Some of that came on scramble improvisation, but a lot of it was baked into the play-calling. A week later, designed runs for Milroe virtually disappeared in a loss to Vanderbilt, but on one of the few occasions they did show up, he pranced with ease to a 14-yard touchdown run.
Offense was most definitely not the reason Alabama lost to the Commodores, but designed runs for Milroe were curiously absent between the major impact they had in a home upset of Georgia, and Saturday’s plan against the Gamecocks. As dangerous as Milroe is as a scrambler out of the pocket, this offense needs his contribution as a runner to be much more deliberate than that.
For the sake of moving the chains and eating some clock, if nothing else.
Alabama’s defense, after all, is giving up too many long, sustained drives of its own.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football needs all it can get from Jalen Milroe’s running skills
