This is an opinion column.

Goodbyes can be complex. They don’t always come with a curtain call because endings aren’t always perfect.

Mac Jones got one during the final drive of Alabama’s 2020 national title romp.

Two years later, Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young left the Sugar Bowl to a standing ovation.

A defeated Jalen Milroe had no such exit Wednesday in Tampa, a final act in a complicated tenure for a program and sport in transition. A fourth-down duck to nobody in a consolation bowl game loss wasn’t the exclamation point of his predecessors — rather a sad period in a chapter dotted with near misses and what-could-have-beens.

Casagrande: An embarrassing end to Alabama’s 2024 of change

The Milroe experience was one of incredible highs and stunning lows.

Beloved for heroic performances in big moments and criticized for failures against lesser opponents, legacies are ultimately built on hardware in this era of Crimson Tide football.

Milroe declared for the NFL draft on Thursday with one SEC championship in a starting role but without the jewelry that lifts an Alabama quarterback to legendary status.

In fact, Milroe became the first full-time starter since Blake Sims in 2014 to never play in a College Football Playoff national title game. In fact, the only other starting QB from the Nick Saban era who missed that club was the first one, John Parker Wilson.

The last one came close but the image of Milroe getting stuffed on fourth down in the Rose Bowl last Jan. 1 will be the image that sticks.

Whiffing on a tackle on a Pick 6 at Oklahoma will too.

But focusing only on the failures misses the full panorama that was Milroe’s time in Tuscaloosa.

The online anger surrounding Milroe’s unsteady ending conveniently leaves out his performance in two huge wins over Georgia. He made all the big throws in the upset of the No. 1 Bulldogs in the 2023 SEC title game that reshaped the final four-team playoff.

Then in September, his incredible speed and big arm led Alabama to a stunning 28-0 first-half lead over the Bulldogs before ultimately hanging on for a 41-34 win.

What about 4th-and-31?

Critics easily gloss over one of this generation’s most iconic Iron Bowl moments and the perfect ball Milroe delivered to Isaiah Bond.

Milroe will also be remembered as among the first big Alabama players in the NIL space. But like his on-field performance, Milroe’s LANK brand went from a celebrated rallying cry in 2023 to online mockery late in the 2024 season.

The naysayers had seen enough in the three-interception loss at Oklahoma and the three-turnover first quarter in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

It’s true, where Milroe went in 2024, so did the Crimson Tide.

When he was brilliant in wins over Georgia (117 rushing yards, 374 passing yards) and LSU (185 rushing yards, four TDs), Alabama looked as good as any team in the nation.

But when he struggled, the Crimson Tide had nothing.

Milroe ran for just 35 yards on 52 carries in Alabama’s four losses this season.

Arguably the fastest quarterback in this or any other Crimson Tide generation, Milroe’s speed changed the equation for opposing defenses.

That was clear in his first real playing time in a 2022 trip to Arkansas. The Razorbacks were on the verge of a huge comeback when Milroe replaced an injured Bryce Young and broke off a 77-yard run that killed Arkansas’ momentum. Alabama led just 28-23 at the time. It won, 49-26.

A week later, he struggled with turnovers in his first start, a 24-20 win over Texas A&M in a two-week preview of the next two years to come.

Milroe always had a deep ball but was up and down with the intermediate throws.

He was fast but was one of the most sacked quarterbacks of the last two seasons.

A true study in contrasts.

Off the field, Milroe was well-liked by teammates and was always available for interviews — win or lose. He’s a genuinely likable guy.

And he stuck with the Alabama program when there was a steady outbound stream in the wake of Saban’s retirement.

Certainly, nobody sane questioned his love for Alabama or his time with the program.

But legacies are built on more than that, especially in this era.

Milroe was a good quarterback at a time when great was the expectation.

So it’s understandable he won’t get the online curtain call as he exits to train for the NFL draft.

But the trolls took some of the hate too far.

Certainly disproportionate to the overall body of work.

Perhaps the benefit of time will heal the sour taste of this fall’s failures.

A complex goodbye for the face of a program enduring a generational transition while falling short of expectations set by the pack of first-round talents he followed.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.