Competition's not new for Jalen Milroe. Here's how he won a quarterback battle years ago

Todd McVey still remembers watching Jalen Milroe and Quentin Milroe jump the fence.

McVey, the head football coach at Tompkins high school in Katy, Texas, would often be leaving as he spotted the Milroes get to work on the football field.

“I’m like, they could have came and gotten a key, but this is more fun to watch,” McVey said.

Then the Milroes would throw. And throw, and throw and throw. Mornings and nights. Quentin Milroe, the Alabama football quarterback’s dad, is a police officer. Some days, he would get off from the night shift at about 6:30-7:30 a.m., then he and Milroe would throw. Some days, he would get off from the day shift in the evening, then he and Milroe would throw.

“Almost literally until the sun went down, when no one was watching,” McVey said. “(Jalen Milroe) is a perfectionist. He wants things done right.”

McVey once saw the Milroes rep a throw to the flat for an hour until Milroe perfected it.

The Milroes throwing together on the Tompkins field began the summer before Milroe’s freshman year, but it proved especially crucial the next offseason. Milroe was determined to make varsity his sophomore year, and he did; his efforts not only earned him a varsity roster spot but also the starting quarterback job.

Fast-forward five years, and Milroe is back in a competition to be the starting signal-caller. This time it’s at Alabama, and the competition is ongoing. Nick Saban hasn’t named a starter ahead of the season opener against Middle Tennessee on Saturday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network). The spotlight on this competition is much larger, but Milroe’s approach has mirrored the last time he won a quarterback job.

“The same focus he had then, he has now to make sure he’s doing more," Quentin Milroe said.

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'Best arm I've ever had'

The Tompkins coaching staff had to do something to help the receivers. They needed to be ready to catch Milroe’s rocket passes.

“That ball comes humming,” McVey said. “He throws bullets.”

So, the coaches created a pregame drill. For eight minutes, Milroe would stand on the sideline and throw to his receivers to get their hands warmed up.

“He’s the best arm I’ve ever had,” McVey said. “Physically, all of that. I’ve never had a kid like that in all my 30 years of coaching.”

The athletic gifts became evident to McVey before Milroe got moved to varsity. Prior to high school, McVey saw him “doing things in junior high that sometimes junior high quarterbacks don’t do” such as dropping back and going through reads.

The coaches talked about bringing Milroe to varsity his freshman year, but they wanted him and the freshmen to experience winning; McVey was still in the early parts of building the program and hadn’t had success there yet.

The decision paid off. Per McVey, the freshman team was the only one in the program with a winning record in 2017. That proved beneficial in 2018. “Those guys all came up knowing how to win,” McVey said.

Win games and win competitions, Milroe showed.

Milroe quickly separated himself in the offseason. After his freshman season, throwing started in February 2018 as a team. Milroe also played for a 7-on-7 team that traveled across the country. He was only 15, and he was competing with 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds. Then spring practices started in April. Through those 18 practices and a spring game, Milroe stood out and won the job. In the process, he beat out two upperclassmen; Both ended up transferring.

“It was just a lot of work outside of school that he put in and dedicated himself to try to be the best person he could be,” Quentin Milroe said. “When Coach McVey chose him, he was ready to go.”

Milroe's dedication remains unchanged

Milroe has been participating in, and crushing, a competition in Tuscaloosa most haven’t seen the past two seasons.

In the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, he’s been fighting to be his best in the weight room. With Bryce Young having the starting spot locked down at quarterback the past two seasons, Milroe got jacked. Offseason videos in 2021 and 2022 have emerged of Milroe squatting and cleaning weight most quarterbacks couldn't even touch.

“The weight room was his game day,” Quentin Milroe said. “That’s what he did to help him mentally. ‘I’m not playing on the field right now, so this is where I compete.’”

So you can be certain Milroe wasn’t going to waste an opportunity this offseason to actually compete on the field.

Milroe has been diligent in his film study. After a recent scrimmage during fall camp, his family was waiting for him afterward at the house, but Milroe was immediately watching film from the scrimmage at the football facility.

His dad said Milroe’s often been in the facility in the wee hours of the morning, too. Milroe will get up at 4:30-5 a.m. and get to work. Sometimes that’s stretching before going to lift. Sometimes it’s throwing. There are occasions where he’s even put up a net and thrown by himself.

No dad this time, and no fences to jump either, but the same dedication endures.

Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Jalen Milroe: How Alabama football quarterback once won a QB battle