Michigan coach reveals the hardest parts of Alabama’s offense to simulate in Rose Bowl practices

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football will face a stiff challenge in Jalen Milroe and the Alabama offense at the College Football Playoff in the Rose Bowl.

Milroe, a former four-star prospect, is a dual-threat QB to a caliber the Wolverines haven’t encountered this year. He’s “talented, real athletic, freaky,” as Jaylen Harrell said earlier this week, and he’s not afraid to throw it deep; Alabama ranks fourth nationally in pass plays of 40 or more yards. Milroe has 12 rushing touchdowns this year and his improvements over the course of the 2023 season were key to the Crimson Tide’s return to the CFP.

Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter spoke on Tuesday about the challenges posed by Alabama. Here’s what he said about how the Wolverines are preparing, and the aspects of the Crimson Tide that are difficult to replicate in practice:

We get a chance to go against, I think, a really good offense every day to help prepare us for these moments. Certainly there’s some teams that have had some skill players that we’ve had to match up with and try to defend. I don’t think we’ve seen a quarterback like this. I think the closest thing we see is in practice with some of our guys. Taulia at Maryland was, as a scrambler, kind of a similar type of guy. But a guy like this involved in the run game, his ability to make off-schedule plays. I think Alex Orji has done a great job [of simulating Milroe as scout team QB] — some of our guys said this yesterday. He’s done a phenomenal job; Davis Warren as well.

It’s hard to simulate the offensive line, okay? You’re talking about 6-7 360, 6-7 360. We don’t have anybody. Myles Hinton is with our offense. And so we have nobody — that’s the hardest thing to simulate, and the speed of their receivers. So while the quarterback is important, and we’re trying to do a great job corralling that guy, it’s harder to simulate the other positions and the talent that they’ve acquired over the years.

Everybody knows how they recruit at a such a high level. So that’s the hardest thing to simulate. We’ll find out on the 1st if we’re prepared. Honestly, talking about it is really cheap at this point. So we’ll find out when the ball is kicked off if we’re prepared. I’m confident in the way our guys have approached it, the way they’re working, that it’ll give us an opportunity to hopefully have some success.

Penn State’s Drew Allar and Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, two of the better QBs the Wolverines saw this year, were primarily pocket passers. Though U-M saw a dual-threat QB in Tagovailoa — among others earlier in the season — none enter with as much potential as Milroe. His ability to scramble helps create positive plays behind an offensive line that, while massive, has had its share of pass-protection issues this year.