College football games, picks: Why Alabama’s Jalen Milroe is the clear protagonist of Championship Week

Jalen Milroe had been benched. They’re saying it out loud now at Alabama, referring to that Week 3 near-disaster at South Florida.

The Crimson Tide’s now-star quarterback had thrown two interceptions the previous week in a loss to Texas and looked bad doing it. The 34-24 defeat was Alabama’s worst in a nonconference home game in 19 years. Nick Saban then told Milroe he was going to give backups Ty Simpson and Ty Buchner a shot the next week against the Bulls.

Never mind the pair were borderline awful in an ugly 17-3 win. It was more about how Milroe handled the news of being demoted.

Blame had cascaded down on top of the 20-year-old from Katy, Texas. Then he did something that not a lot of 20-year-olds do. He picked his head up and rebounded with a sense of maturity.

“I never doubted J-Mil even after the Texas game that we lost,” Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said this week. “I kind of met with J-Mil alone. I told him I believe in him. I keep having faith [that] he will be the guy.”

At that point, the (Alabama) world was waiting to see what would happen next. A kid who had thrown 103 passes in 14 career games was at a crossroads because the program was at a crossroads.

There was the case of how the quarterback room got so inexperienced after the loss of overall No. 1 draft choice Bryce Young. There was the shaky foundation of a dynasty already playing in in the shadow of Georgia. Now, whatever happens this Championship Week, Milroe enters as the central figure. There is so much at stake orbiting around him he might as well be his own planet.

“Biggest thing? We’re not a finished product,” Milroe said. “That’s a scary thing.”

How he has gotten to that celestial level has become one of the best stories of the season. Since that Texas game, Milroe has thrown for 16 touchdowns with only four interceptions. The Tide haven’t lost in that span, winning 10 in a row. Milroe’s ability to slide, squirm and run has impacted even Kirby Smart’s children.

“This guy is like when I used to ask my sons who they were playing with on the ‘Madden’ game. And they would say, ‘I’m playing with the Ravens.’ And I would say, ‘Why are you playing with the Ravens?’ And they would say, ‘They’ve got Lamar Jackson and nobody can tackle him.’ Well, this guy is a bigger, physical version of that,” Georgia’s coach said.

In the same season, Milroe has gone from being benched to being compared to a former NFL MVP. Beat Georgia, and don’t be surprised if he gets an invitation to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony.

What the heck happened to cause this transformation? Good, old-fashioned coaching and development — for starters.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees gets loads of credit. At 31, Notre Dame’s former offensive chief wasn’t exactly a first choice at Alabama. Something got figured out. Milroe told ESPN it was the first time he was coached by someone who actually played quarterback.