Georgia hasn’t seen a quarterback like Alabama football’s Jalen Milroe since the 2023 SEC championship game. That game, where Milroe won MVP and led the Crimson Tide to a win that knocked Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs out of the College Football Playoff race, put UGA on alert.
On Saturday, Smart’s group will face Milroe again when Georgia visits Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Bulldog head coach was complimentary of the quarterback when asked about him Monday.
“He is as different a football player in college football as I’ve played against him in a long time,” Smart said. “Because people think he’s just a runner, and that’s not the case. He has a tremendous arm and can do things with his arm that other people can’t.
“He can reach spots on the field and get it there faster than you can break on it, better than most arm talent people. So it’s a tremendous challenge to defend a guy like him.”
Milroe completed 13 of his 23 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns against the Bulldogs in Atlanta last year. The Crimson Tide won the game 27-24 and made the CFP because of it, before losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal.
Smart described how befuddling Milroe can be to an opposing defense.
“With him, the challenges are immense, because he’s an incredible football player. There is no design to a play that you can draw up and then say, ‘Well, I’m pretty sure this is gonna happen’ on this play with him. Because you don’t know what’s gonna happen. I mean, sometimes the worst thing you can do is cover everybody with him. And sometimes the best thing you can do is cover everybody.”
Linebacker Smael Mondon faced off with Milroe in the 2023 game. He said the Bulldogs were having scout team quarterbacks take off the non-contact jerseys for parts of practice, in order to prepare for the difficulty of getting Milroe on the ground.
When you’re playing a dynamic athlete at quarterback like that, that’s just one of the things that comes with it,” Mondon said. “Just to be disciplined.”
Alabama and Georgia are scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. The game will be aired on ESPN.
