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What went wrong for Alabama football in 2024? What Jalen Milroe said
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- What went wrong for Alabama football in 2024? What Jalen Milroe said
Jalen Milroe is looking ahead, knowing he's "not a finished product."
But when the former Alabama football quarterback was asked what went wrong for the Crimson Tide in 2024 , a season that ended with a 9-4 record, with less than 10 wins for the first time since 2007, and with two losses in the team's final three games, Milroe focused on a few specific stats.
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When Alabama was not successful, Milroe told NBC Sports' "Pro Football Talk" Wednesday, he looked at the team's efficiency on third down, the turnover margin, red zone efficiency, sacks and penalties.
"During the times where we were elite at that and we took care of business — didn't have sacks, didn't turnover the ball, were able to be efficient on third down — those are the games we won," Milroe said. "Those are the games we were able to win with a large margin. Those are the games where we were the best offense in the country. The games that we didn't, that's when we didn't play to the standard of excellence, to the standard we needed to play at."
Alabama lost games to Vanderbilt, Tennessee , Oklahoma and Michigan , each of which came away from Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Milroe also said he was proud that the Crimson Tide did not lose back-to-back games in 2024, showing that Alabama learned how to "not lose" when responding to adversity from the week before.
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Will Jalen Milroe be an NFL quarterback?
Dec 31, 2024; Tampa, FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) drops back to pass against the Michigan Wolverines in the first quarter during the ReliaQuest Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
After struggling at points during the NFL Senior Bowl week, Milroe addressed questions as to where he would play at the next level.
Simply put, Milroe is a quarterback.
"It's always the quarterback," Milroe said. "Of course the question's asked, switching positions, stuff like that, what I can do. But you never ask a zebra to be a dog."
Milroe had 2,844 passing yards 16 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in 2024. He also added 726 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns.
Preparing for the NFL draft, Milroe said he's narrowing his focus to pass efficiency, attempting to emulate quarterbacks like Joe Burrow , Brock Purdy and Geno Smith with their "pocket integrity" and their footwork in and around the pocket.
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What Alabama football game best showcases Jalen Milroe?
When asked which game represents who Jalen Milroe could be at the next level, the game he would want NFL scouts to watch, Milroe picked one he didn't play in: South Florida in 2023.
"Human nature would be for it to be your best game. But how about the game you learned from? You've grown from?" Milroe said. "The theme of my life is 1-0, just improving and getting better each and every week that I have. So the thing that I try to highlight is that if I didn't have the proper mindset and the proper preparation, I wouldn't have bounced back and lead our team to a win against an Ole Miss team that was really talented on offense and a really talented team on defense as well."
From that moment, Milroe said he grew both physically and mentally as a player, leading a team to an SEC title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
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Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: What went wrong for Alabama football in 2024? What Jalen Milroe said
