The cake is out of the oven in Tuscaloosa. Jalen Milroe will start at quarterback for Alabama football when the Crimson Tide open the season against Middle Tennessee State at Bryant-Denny Stadium according to a social media post from ESPN’s Chris Low.

Milroe battled for the position throughout preseason camp with returning redshirt freshman Ty Simpson, plus Notre Dame transfer and fellow redshirt sophomore Tyler Buchner. Milroe served as Alabama’s primary backup quarterback last season, behind Bryce Young, who was taken No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Last season, Milroe was pressed into duty for his first career start against Texas A&M. He led the Tide to a close win over the Aggies, throwing for 111 yards and three touchdowns.

Entering spring practice, Alabama’s only two top competitors for the job were Milroe and Simpson. However, neither of them did enough to fully impress Saban who, along with new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees who also joined the Tide from Notre Dame, brought in Buchner.

At SEC Media Days in July, Saban used his grandmother’s cake-baking skills as an illustration of where the quarterback competition was at.

“I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say, “When is this cake going to be done? When is this cake going to be done?’” Saban said in Nashville. “She said, ‘If I don’t let it go through and take it out of the oven too soon, it will turn to mush and it won’t be a really good cake.’ So I think we have to sort of let this develop and make sure we let the cake bake until somebody separates themselves.”

Evidently, that somebody was Milroe. Although, if Saban gets his wish, the competition won’t end now.

“Fall camp is not the beginning of the end,” Saban said he told his quarterbacks during camp earlier in August. “You got an opportunity to separate yourself, show you can play with consistency and play winning football at the position, but that competition goes on and on and on and we need all our quarterbacks to continue to improve and continue to compete, compete far beyond even the time that we name a starter.”

Alabama and MTSU are scheduled to kick off at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be aired on SEC Network.