AP Photo/Vasha Hunt
The White team defeated the Crimson team 25-7 on Saturday afternoon in the Alabama Crimson Tide’s spring football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
While quarterback Bryce Young won the Heisman Trophy and led the Tide to the national championship game last season, he and the first-team offense largely struggled for Crimson.
With key offensive linemen Emil Ekiyor Jr. and Darrian Dalcourt not playing, Young was constantly under siege, resulting in his throwing no touchdowns and one interception, while White racked up nine sacks, including three by linebacker Dallas Turner.
Young’s uneven play opened the door for sophomore quarterback Jalen Milroe to impress for White, however.
Milroe, who is battling with freshman Ty Simpson to be Young’s primary backup in 2022, made a strong impression Saturday with 149 yards, one touchdown and one interception through the air, plus 32 yards on eight rushing attempts.
Milroe was responsible for the most electric passing play of the game, hitting wide receiver Christian Leary for a 52-yard touchdown in the second quarter to extend the White lead to 13-0.
Jack Crosby of CBS Sports and Clint Lamb of On3 were both highly impressed with Milroe’s ability to proverbially drop the ball in the bucket to Leary:
That helped make up for a poor attempt Milroe made while under pressure in the first quarter, which resulted in an overthrow of Leary and an interception by safety Kristian Story.
Milroe is still early in his college career and his development as a quarterback, but he looked the part Saturday, which is something Nick Kayal of 92.9 The Game in Atlanta took notice of:
While Milroe was dropping dimes to Leary, Young had a hard time finding his rhythm and threw an interception of his own in the first quarter when he was picked off by safety Jordan Battle on an errant pass down the seam.
The first-team defense thoroughly dominated the first-team offense in the first half, yielding a 16-0 lead for White at halftime.
Per AL.com’s Mike Rodak, Bama head coach Nick Saban provided a rundown of his first-half thoughts, saying: “The second offense has done a nice job. The first defense has really good rushers, so with two starters out on the offensive line, we’re having trouble giving Bryce time. When he’s had time, he’s done well. That has been the difference in the game so far.”
Saban also called for cleaner all-around play with more consistency and fewer turnovers and negative plays.
The veteran coach finally got something positive out of the Crimson offense early in the second half when running back Jahmyr Gibbs broke a 75-yard touchdown run to put Crimson on the board for the first time.
Aaron Suttles of The Athletic and Crosby had similar takes regarding how well Gibbs is going to fit into the Alabama offense in 2022:
With the departure of running back Brian Robinson Jr. as well as wide receivers Jameson Williams and John Metchie III to the NFL, Gibbs is one of several skill-position players who need to step up for the Tide during the upcoming season.
Gibbs is a transfer from Georgia Tech who is coming off a 2021 campaign that saw him rush for 746 yards and four touchdowns and catch 35 passes for 465 yards and two scores.
As part of Alabama’s dynamic offense, Gibbs perhaps has a chance to be a dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate in 2022, and he showed why on Saturday with 100 yards and a score on nine carries.
Gibbs’ touchdown would prove to be the only shining beacon for Crimson on Saturday, however, as the first-team defense shut them out the rest of the way.
Young and the first-team passing game will have to get in sync before the regular season begins, but with Gibbs running wild, the first-team defense dominating and Milroe proving to be a capable backup, the spring game was largely a success for Saban.
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