Jalen Milroe had one of the best nights of any college players on the biggest stage of the college football weekend. The Alabama quarterback’s performance in the Crimson Tide’s 41-34 win over rival Georgia in a battle of top-5 teams served as a nice booster for Milroe’s 2025 NFL Draft stock.
One game is but a single snapshot in a series of moving pictures that comprises a draft evaluation, but Alabama versus Georgia is a very prominent picture. Georgia’s defense is loaded with future NFL players and they’re generally well-coordinated.
On Saturday night, Milroe made Georgia look like a MAC team for most of the night. The 6-foot-2 junior completed 27 of his 33 passes, netting 374 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw an interception, one that went through both hands of his target before getting picked off by Georgia.
The numbers are nice, but it’s the way in which Milroe accrued them that is so appealing from an NFL point of view. Milroe was in complete control of the pre-snap reads and consistently made the best decision with the ball. His downfield accuracy was sharp, giving freshman sensation Ryan Williams opportunities to create (spectacularly!) after the catch.
His legs also looked outstanding. Milroe has typically been more of an opportunistic runner than a huge designed-run threat. Beating Malaki Starks, who should be a top-10 overall prospect at safety, to the edge on a run and then tightroping the sideline for a touchdown is not something entirely expected from Milroe. His acceleration was very impressive and caught the Bulldogs defense chasing air.
Milroe had a much better night than his Georgia counterpart, Carson Beck. It’s been that way pretty much all season, both in terms of collegiate performance and NFL traits. Expect to see some adjusting in the QB rankings from a lot of pundits elevating Milroe up.