Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe is the first of two Heisman Trophy candidates the USF football team will face in the season's first four weeks.
Miami QB Cam Ward visits the Bulls in Week 4. But let’s just concentrate on the task at hand because the Bulls will see Milroe up close and personal on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
It will be a supreme test because USF coach Alex Golesh said, Milroe “is playing lights out as he did as he finished (last) year.”
Then-coach Nick Saban benched Milroe for Alabama’s trip to Tampa last season after he played poorly in a loss to Texas. He returned to the lineup for the following game and was the starter for the rest of the season, leading the Crimson Tide to the SEC title and the postseason playoffs.
Golesh said the fact that the Bulls didn’t see Milroe last year won’t make much difference in how they approach this game.
“I think you got a pretty good idea (of what to expect). You’ve got a bunch of film. You’ve got a playoff run, an SEC championship game, and you got last week. So you get to see exactly what it is. That's what we prepped for a year ago as well,” he said.
“He’s a really, really special talent, really smart football player gets them in the right plays, plays physically, really impressive, both as a thrower and as a runner as well. He’s a really, really good football player, an older veteran has been through it.”
As things stand now, Milroe is in the mix to be the first quarterback taken in next year’s NFL draft. And since potential franchise quarterbacks are the most prized possession for teams, that means Milroe could be the first overall pick.
It will be an enormous challenge for USF’s secondary.
“He's a poised guy. I have a lot of respect for him, so I've just been watching them on tape,” Bulls cornerback DeShawn Rucker said. “He's got a great arm, Good Feet on him, so we're just looking to make plays out in the field.
“We know he's going to run the ball and things like that. So, the big thing is just containing him in there.”
Like USF quarterback Byrum Brown, Milroe is always a threat to run. But if a team worries too much about that, he can burn you with his arm.
Western Kentucky learned that the hard way when Milroe connected with 17-year-old freshman receiver Ryan Williams for touchdowns of 84 and 55 yards last week.
Williams, a five-star recruit who reclassified so he could enter college a year early, had more than 4,600 all-purpose yards and 65 touchdowns in his final two seasons at Saraland (Ala.) High School in Alabama. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023.
And, oh yeah, he was also a standout sprinter in track and has high-jumped 6-foot-8.
“He can run. Everybody can see that he could run out of high school, too. I mean, man, he is long and can run, really, really, really impressive. It will be a really good challenge. The dude's gonna be a monster as he gets stronger and bigger.”
Oh, and there’s this: Milroe wears number 4, and Williams wears number 2.
That combo will add up to a lot of sixes before the year is over.