UGA Football Coach Kirby Smart Talks About "Tremendous" Jalen Milroe
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ATHENS - Kirby Smart and the UGA Football team may have their biggest challenge of the season this upcoming Saturday.
Stopping Alabama quarterback, Jalen Milroe.
The 2023 season didn’t start off great for the Crimson Tide quarterback who led a struggling offense early on this fall. He was benched against South Florida, but earned the job back and hasn’t looked back.
The arm talent is easy to see. Milroe can sling it as well as anyone in the game right now, but it’s his feet that’s keeping Georgi fans up at night this week. The Bulldogs have struggled to contain mobile quarterbacks this season, with both Georgia Tech and Auburn finding success on the ground their their quarterbacks.
But they haven’t seen someone quite like Milroe. He’s big, strong, and electric with the ball in his hands. Georgia’s defense is still in the “elite category, but Kirby Smart knows his defense better be ready for both Milroe’s arm and legs on Saturday in Atlanta.
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On what makes a good running quarterback…
“He (Milroe) has the ability to do both”, Smart said this week. “He’s a tremendous, tremendous football player. I mean, I didn't really know until I got further into the games and watching them this past weekend how good he really is at what he does. I think anytime you can scramble and extend plays, á la Stetson, really anybody, it makes it harder to defend. When you have the component of designed runs mixed in with that, it complicates it even more because he becomes an extra player, an extra guy to tackle, a physical guy to tackle, big, physical guy that has running back characteristics, but he has the ability to throw the ball, and he throws the ball well, especially off their play action game. He does a really good job of taking shots and throwing the ball down field. He sees it well, and they've got a massive offensive line to protect him with. So when you've got ability to run the ball as a designed run and then you also can run the ball in your scrambles, it just makes it harder to defend.”
The tools are certainly there. He’s as physically gifted as any quarterback in college football. And as we’ve seen this fall, running quarterbacks can be effective against this Bulldog defense, but that’s not how you beat them.
To beat Georgia, you have to have an elite “quarterback”. Not an elite athlete, but an elite quarterback. Someone who can read defenses and hit tight windows down the field. Someone who can buy time in the pocket and his his second or third read. Someone who can make big, critical, accurate throws on a consistent basis for four quarters.
Milroe will have success with his feet at times, but is he a guy who can beat Georgia with his arm? That’s to be determined.
He has the arm strength, but can he be consistently accurate for four quarters against the best defense he’ll see all year?
That’s doubtful.
“When you go to offense and you see Milroe and the leaders they have there, they're really talented. They're really tough. They're sound. And he makes plays. He makes lots of plays, number one, with his athletic ability, but he makes them with his arm as well.”
Can be make ENOUGH plays with his arm? That’s the big question.
So far this season, Milroe has thrown for 2,526 yards and 21 touchdowns with six INTS while completing 66% of his passes.
He totaled 366 yards against a tough Auburn defense. He went for 270 total yards and a combined six touchdowns against Kentucky. He totaled 374 yards with four rushing touchdowns against a BAD LSU defense.
You could make the case he’s playing his best football right now, but if he wants to beat Georgia, he’ll need to have the game of his life both on the ground, and with his arm.