Alabama's Jalen Milroe Wins QB Sweepstakes For Now - Will Start Vs. Middle Tennessee

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The Alabama Quarterback Mystery is no longer.

Redshirt sophomore Jalen Milroe, the most experienced in the quarterback battle, will start for the No. 4 Crimson Tide against Middle Tennessee in the season opener at Bryant Denny Stadium tonight (7:30 p.m., SEC Network).

Quarterback Jalen Milroe scrambles for yardage against Arkansas last season in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (Getty Images).

ESPN's Chris Low, who has remained among the closest to Saban of media members, broke the story on Friday. Experience and the leadership Milroe showed over the summer pushed him into the No. 1 spot.

But that may or may not last until next Saturday when Alabama hosts Texas (7 p.m., ESPN).

Will Jalen Milroe Still Be Alabama's Quarterback For Texas?

"The quarterback who plays on Saturday, um, that’s the quarterback for Saturday," Saban said on his radio show Thursday night. "And the life of a quarterback, any quarterback, depends on how they perform."

Milroe, for now, beat out redshirt freshman Ty Simpson and sophomore Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner.

Buchner was seen as an early favorite as he played for offensive coordinator Tommy Rees at Notre Dame. Saban hired Rees to be his offensive coordinator following the 2022 season. But Buchner is closer to third team.

A fourth quarterback could enter the mix. That is five-star true freshman Dylan Lonergan of Brookwood High in Snellville, Georgia. He is a member of the Tide's 2023 signing class and may have the best pure arm of the group. Three or four quarterbacks could play in all for the Tide.

Alabama Coach Nick Saban Wants To Play Many Quarterbacks

"We want you to play well enough so we have an opportunity to play the other guys at the position, because that’s important for us," Saban said he told Jalen Milroe last week.

Also in the 2023 class is quarterback Eli Holstein of Zachary, Louisiana. Who knows who would be starting tonight if Alabama had been able to attract Arch Manning, who instead signed with Texas. Manning opens the season as one of starter Quinn Ewers' backups. The No. 11 Longhorns host Rice today (3:30 p.m., FOX).

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.