Jalen Milroe spent three seasons playing for Nick Saban with Alabama football. Over that time, there was ample opportunity for the quarterback to learn from the legendary coach.
There was no shortage of wisdom that Saban dispensed to his players, but one piece of advice stuck with Milroe the most.
“If I was to choose one, I’d say trust the process,” Milroe said on ESPN’s “Get Up” Thursday. “Every process is different when it comes to trusting your journey. As a guy that came in from Texas and being acclimated to a new environment at Alabama and how you push every single day to accomplish any goal you want to achieve ... there’s adversity that comes along with the process. There goes times of self doubt. There goes times where you have to push through hard circumstances. Throughout that time, never waiver from that. It comes from a leader in Coach Saban pushing you each and every day to be the best you, and that’s very important. Just kind of go 1-0 each and every day and just try to attack the day at hand. It’s all about trusting the process.”
Milroe spent the first two seasons of his career at Alabama as a backup quarterback to Bryce Young, a Heisman Trophy winner and first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Then Milroe had a chance to compete for the job. He started the first two games, was benched the third game, then returned to the starting job for the rest of the season. Milroe led Alabama to a win in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, earning a spot in the College Football Playoff.
Milroe is back for another season as a starter but with a new head coach. Saban retired in January, and Kalen DeBoer took over.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.