Alabama football reportedly has its starting quarterback for the first game of the season. According to ESPN, Jalen Milroe will get the nod against Middle Tennessee State on Saturday.

Milroe is the longest-tenured Crimson Tide quarterback of the group competing for the starting job, which included redshirt freshman Ty Simpson and Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner. The redshirt sophomore served as Bryce Young’s primary backup last season.

Before Alabama gets to game day, here’s what to know about Milroe.

He flipped to Alabama from Texas

Milroe was a four-star prospect in the class of 2021, out of Tompkins High School in Katy, Tx., and had originally committed to his home state’s Longhorns. According to the 247Sports composite, Milroe was the No. 13 quarterback in his class and the No. 82 player nationally.

He had committed to Texas in 2019, but flipped to the Crimson Tide in August of 2020. Ironically, one of Milroe’s lead recruiters at the time was then-Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who is now the head coach at Texas.

Milroe joined Alabama’s 2021 class, which was ranked No. 1 nationally by the 247 composite.

He won a game last season

When an injury forced Young to miss last year’s Texas A&M game, Milroe was called into action. The game in College Station became the first start of his career.

Milroe did what the Tide needed to get the win, with Alabama’s defense holding off a closing-seconds red zone upset attempt from the Aggies. The then-redshirt freshman threw for three touchdowns in the game.

He also turned the ball over three times, drawing criticism from Saban, who said the signal-caller “played with a lot of anxiety” throughout the game.

“I don’t think he allowed himself to let his training sort of guide him and trust and believe in it so that he could have success in executing plays,” Saban said in the week following the win. “You can’t turn the ball over and not execute plays like they’re designed relative to the read of what you should and shouldn’t do. So those things are all things that we all need to definitely improve on so that we can utilize all 11 players on our offensive team.”

Saban says he has improved throughout the offseason

During spring football, neither Milroe nor Simpson impressed Saban enough to cement a place as the starter. Alabama brought in Buchner, who played for new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees at Notre Dame.

Once preseason camp got underway, Saban said all three quarterbacks had a chance to win the job. As the Tide ended camp and began preparations for Middle Tennessee State, the head coach praised Milroe when asked about his development.

“I think Jalen has made a significant amount of improvement,” Saban said on Monday. “I think he’s more comfortable in the pocket. He has more confidence in the way he executes and the way he plays. He’s been more consistent in the way he’s played and I think that’s going to be the key of the drill for him to be able to maintain that consistency in every practice so that he is developing the kind of habits that are going to carry over in the game and help him be successful.”

More: What Saban told Alabama’s new starting quarterback Jalen Milroe ahead of Week 1