The University of Alabama football team is in a different situation now than earlier in the season.
Jalen Milroe is the reason behind it.
The sophomore quarterback has played more confidently since a week two loss to Texas and being benched for Tyler Buchner versus South Florida. Milroe has grown to be one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and national outlets are recognizing him as a semifinalist for awards. The native Texan is in the running for the Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award. His name has also been tossed into the Heisman Trophy conversation as a possible contender.
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Milroe led the Crimson Tide’s offense to back-to-back 40+ point games against Southeastern Conference competition.
He’s totaled ten touchdowns to one interception against LSU and Kentucky. Milroe has 2,070 passing yards, 16 touchdown passes, and 12 rushing scores. He ranks tenth all-time in Alabama football history for total touchdowns (28) in a single season; however, his focus is on helping the Tide get better each week. Milroe was featured on The Official Heisman Trophy podcast.
He explained how his acronym, “L.A.N.K.,” has caused the team to surge to an SEC Championship appearance.
LANK, which stands for Let All Naysayers Know, has been the battle cry for Alabama. People wrote off Milroe and the Tide after losing to Texas, but the Crimson Tide has everyone on notice. It has an opportunity to make the College Football Playoff if it wins out and gets help from other teams losing. Milroe wants his teammates focused on controlling what is in front of them.
“We see everything as a process,” Milroe said about how Alabama has put everything together at the right time.
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“I think everything is a group effort. The coaching staff has challenged us to be a better offense. We are not a finished product, and I think that is the biggest thing that’s allowing us to grow. Our guys need to know we have a lot of improvements to make, but we are also making great strides.”
Milroe spoke about how Alabama has grown since the Texas game, but he explained how the South Florida matchup was a learning situation for him. He did not play against the Bulls, yet Milroe grew as a leader — encouraging Buchner and Ty Simpson in a tough environment. The maturity he displayed gave Nick Saban the confidence to award the starting job back, and Milroe has progressed since then. Alabama has been letting the opposition know each week it has not gone anywhere.
“LANK was something harped on throughout the offseason,” Milroe said. “It was something for us to build off of. The season we had last year was not to the standard we wanted to play at. It came with a lot of doubts following this year. I wanted to incorporate the guys to forget about the naysayers who say we can’t do something, who say we can’t achieve this, or we should not be worried about external factors that we can’t control. So, it is all about letting naysayers know with our performance, our work ethic, and our great attitude in how we approach. It is a great motto that we have.”
Alabama has two more regular-season games left.
It needs to dominate Chattanooga and Auburn to head into the SEC Championship Game with a lot of confidence.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
