TideIllustrated – ‘Our quarterbacks some dogs’: Milroe’s resilience gave Alabama momentum

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After an initial roar, the crowd inside Bryant-Denny Stadium held its breath a bit following Jalen Milroe’s 33-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Hale in the third quarter of Alabama’s 24-10 over Ole Miss.

Upon delivering the deep ball to his receiver, Milroe was bulldozed by Rebels linebacker Suntarine Perkins, causing the quarterback to spend a few extra moments on the ground. While the home crowd looked on anxiously, Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner didn’t stress one bit.

He knew better.

“Our quarterbacks some dogs, can’t even lie,” Alabama edge rusher Turner said. “We see them every day in practice and stuff like that, nothing new. When you see Jalen Milroe squatting 700 pounds in the summer, I knew he was going to bounce back up.”

Sure enough, after some brief attention from the training staff, Milroe popped back up, flexing and fist-pumping before running over to celebrate with his teammates.

Following the game, Milroe told reporters that he had the wind knocked out of him on the play, laughing while crediting Perkins for the big hit.

“When he came, he was coming,” Milroe said.

Of course, a hit like that hurts a bit less when it results in 6 points.

“I heard the crowd, I looked up at the ref a little bit,” Milroe said. “He put his hands up. I was like ‘OK, touchdown.”

Milroe’s touchdown sparked a series of hard-nosed plays for the Crimson Tide. Backup quarterback Ty Simpson ran in the ensuing two-point conversion attempt despite being tackled by the facemask.

From there, Jamarion Miller rocked Ole Miss kick returner with a big hit at the Ole Miss 9-yard line on the kickoff. Upon review, Miller was ejected for targeting. However, the energy created from blue-collar plays carried the Tide for teh remainder of the game.

“I think the momentum in the course of those plays plays really shifted for us,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “The energy went up, and I think that was really demonstrated by how we continued to play the rest of the game. I’m always happy to see guys make those types of plays.”

Along with providing a boost to his teammates, Milroe’s resilience could have also played a part in wearing down Ole Miss’ defense. Just ask Turner, who can only imagine what seeing a quarterback shake off a hit like that would do to his mindset on the field.

“If you see a quarterback pop up after hitting him the way [Milroe got hit], it’s definitely a little crushing,” Turner said. “Thinking that you took the fight out of him, but it was a touchdown pass, so you’re never going to take the fight out that.”

After being renamed the starting quarterback this week, Milroe put in a solid performance, completing 17 of 21 passes for 225 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also added 28 yards on 16 attempts despite being sacked four times on the afternoon.

“I thought he showed a lot of leadership out there. He made some good throws, made some explosive plays. So we’ve got to continue to try to create opportunities for our players downfield.”