LOS ANGELES — Just days away from leading Alabama into the College Football Playoff semifinal against Michigan, starting quarterback Jalen Milroe said Thursday that former Tide offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien once told him he shouldn’t play quarterback.
“How would you feel if I told you [that] you suck?” Milroe said of what it was like to receive that remark from his former coordinator. “He told me a bunch of positions I could have switched to, but look where I’m at right now. Who gets the last laugh?”
O’Brien, who was the team’s offensive coordinator in the previous two seasons, was replaced by Tommy Rees this past offseason after O’Brien left to become offensive coordinator with the NFL’s New England Patriots.
Under Rees, once a college quarterback himself, Milroe has grown into one of the best quarterbacks in college football. After struggling at the beginning of the season and losing the starting job against South Florida, Milroe bounced back.
As he led the Tide to 10 straight wins, an SEC title and a CFP berth, he also found a groove as both a runner and a passer, throwing for 2,718 yards and 23 touchdowns while running for 468 yards and 12 more scores.
“When you look at me, you don’t think I play quarterback,” Milroe said. “You think I play [defensive back], linebacker, tight end. You don’t think I play quarterback.”
When it comes to throwing the ball, Milroe takes pride in bucking conventional wisdom about himself and showing how effective of a thrower, not just a runner, he can be. As his confidence has grown, Milroe has only been affirmed in his belief that he can play the position at a high level, even if people such as O’Brien have doubted his ability to do so.
“Growing up, I went to camp, they looked at me as a receiver or they saw me as not playing the quarterback position,” Milroe said. “I beat all odds by playing quarterback, and that is something that I try to do as much as possible.”
Milroe acknowledged the uniqueness of his journey to this position, but he said he never wavered on his belief and desire that he had to be an SEC quarterback after committing to Alabama. Now, with Rees, Milroe has found a kindred spirit in a fellow quarterback who went through his own share of ups and downs.
“This is the first time I had an OC that played the position,” Milroe said. “I think I’m very receptive of his coaching because he played the position, played at a high level at Notre Dame. And then now that he’s coaching, he’s able to coach the position and I’m able to absorb it as much as possible. So it’s been great.”
Said Rees of Milroe: “He’s an unbelievable kid. The way he is able to face adversity, the way he’s able to push through things.”
The rest of the Tide’s offense has also rallied around Milroe this season, touting his development as a leader as well.
“Honestly, from the first game to all the way to now, he’s looked like two different players, but it’s the same person,” wide receiver Isaiah Bond said. “Confidence is a big role on the football field. If you don’t have no trust, no confidence, you’re not going to even play to your full potential. So believe in yourself is the main key part, and he’s done that.”
College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.
Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.
In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”
Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.
The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.
Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.
Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.
“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.
Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”
Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.
Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.
Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.
Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).
When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).
With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.
A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.
The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.
The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.
The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.
A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.