Jalen Milroe was soaring after Alabama football’s season-opening win over Middle Tennessee State. The redshirt sophomore quarterback threw for three touchdowns and run for another against the Blue Raiders, earning him a share of the SEC’s offensive player of the week honor.

Four quarters later and Milroe is reportedly not the Crimson Tide’s starter anymore, with Tyler Buchner expected to take over the spot for UA’s Saturday matchup with South Florida according to 247Sports and ESPN.

So what went so wrong for Alabama’s longest tenured quarterback to lose the starting job?

Alabama football’s quarterback competition

Nick Saban never made any official announcement of a starting quarterback for the MTSU game. The news leaked out the day before the game, but rosters in the press box listed Milroe as one of four possible starters along with Buchner, Ty Simpson and Dylan Lonergan.

Milroe, Simpson and Buchner had all been competing for the starting job throughout the offseason. Milroe was Bryce Young’s primary backup last season, while Simpson spent the year redshirting and Buchner was at Notre Dame with current Tide offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.

As the season-opener drew near, Saban made it clear that the competition wasn’t going to end with a named starter

“That’s not the end of it,” Saban said. “It’s just the beginning. What if a guy doesn’t play good? He’s not entitled to keep playing. And the guy that doesn’t play got every opportunity to practice and be more consistent and win the team over so that when he gets an opportunity to play, he plays really well. We have changed quarterbacks around here a few times during the season. So, I know you guys are looking for an end but it’s not even gonna be the end in the first game.”

Milroe played extremely well against MTSU. He looked good throwing the ball deep and avoided the ball-security problems that had plagued him in 2022.

In the week following the game, Milroe said he was pleased with the performance but not satisfied.

“I think it was a start,” Milroe said. “It’s a start for everything and the one thing I want to do is just improve. That’s the one thing that I wanted to do was appreciate the win, number one. But also look in the mirror and try to look at how I could be a better leader? How I could be a better passer? How can I be more efficient? Just overall, just try and improve.

“I know and I trust the offensive staff to just push me everyday to be the best version of myself. Even though I trust Coach Rees to push me. Me and him will get together and try to improve.”

The Texas game

Once again, Milroe was listed as one of four possible starters in the depth chart released before Alabama faced Texas on Saturday. As was expected though, he got the start and played the entire game.

It didn’t go particularly well. Milroe spent much of the game running for his life as the Crimson Tide had issues blocking, but his turnover problem returned.

He threw two interceptions, both of them of the ugliest variety. Alabama fell 34-24.

“I gotta do better,” Milroe told reporters after the game. “I gotta improve. I gotta protect the ball. I gotta continue to lead and just learn. Just learn from it, grow from it and just understand that there’s always more work to do.”

During Milroe’s struggles, Saban admitted he considered making a change at quarterback. However, once the sophomore helped Alabama to its first touchdown, he stayed in the game.

Milroe said after the game that he was “not necessarily” worried about Buchner or another quarterback taking over his spot. He reiterated that he was just looking to improve in the ensuing week of practice.

Through week, Milroe was praised by his teammates for how he handled the adversity.

“Through the mistakes that he made, he never put his head down,” offensive guard Tyler Booker said. “He was always there for us. He always had a smile on his face. Even down to the last drive, he was like, ‘I love where we are. He still had that hope. He still had that drive. He still had that fight.”

Saban made clear that positions weren’t safe across the board if players didn’t perform. He didn’t back off of that rhetoric throughout the week.

During his Thursday radio show, he said he wanted his team looking over its shoulder at some level.

“You want to be successful? Get paranoid,” Saban said. ” Think that somebody’s after you every day, and somebody’s gonna get your job if you don’t do it better. Maybe that will get you going.”

He also expressed without saying the word quarterback that he wanted more from the positon.

“We need to get better execution at some critical positions,” Saban said. “because they will distribute the ball and take advantage of some of the other players that we have, create more balance on offense”

In Saban’s eyes, evidently the answer was Buchner.