Bill O'Brien, a longtime football coach at the college and NFL levels, once told Alabama's Jalen Milroe he should reconsider being a quarterback at the college level.
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Milroe, of course, is the starting signal-caller for the Crimson Tide, the No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff who defeated the Georgia Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
"How would you feel if I told you that you sucked?"
Jalen Milroe said former Alabama OC Bill O'Brien told him to reconsider playing QB 😬
(via @ChrisMcCulleyTV)
pic.twitter.com/7ZhSztIYq0— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 28, 2023
O'Brien was most recently with the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2021-22 and is now with the New England Patriots.
"Shoot, my own offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien, told me I shouldn't play quarterback, so, you know, there's a lot of things I can have motivation on," Milroe said during Thursday's media availability.
A reporter followed up, asking him how he felt when O'Brien told him that he shouldn't play the position.
"How would you feel if I told you that you sucked?" Milroe responded.
The reporter said he "probably wouldn't like it."
"OK then, so. ... The biggest thing to me: Be true to myself, and you know, stay the same. Nothing changed about me. Only thing that changed was I had an opportunity and I seized it."
This season, Milroe completed 170 of 260 passes (a 65.4% completion rate) for 2,720 yards, 23 touchdowns and six interceptions, and added 693 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. He had 164 rushing yards and four scores against LSU in Week 10. His best passing performance came in Week 6 against Texas A&M, when he had 323 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
He sat out Week 3 against the University of South Florida but rebounded and led the Crimson Tide down the stretch. He didn't lose another game after Week 2.
Meanwhile, the Patriots average just over 14 points per game with O'Brien at the helm as offensive coordinator. That's the lowest mark per game in the league.
The Crimson Tide will take on the Michigan Wolverines in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 at 5 p.m. ET to see who will advance to the College Football Playoff national championship .
