Alabama football and head coach Nick Saban may have been written off at the beginning of the 2023 college football season, but the Crimson Tide will never rest without a fight. Despite early struggles under quarterback Jalen Milroe, Alabama is fighting for a spot in the College Football Playoff with an 11-1 record.

The battle for the starting quarterback position didn't end when the season started. Milroe was once benched after being named the starter in Week 1 and the Tide have used different signal callers to see who can be the spark plug for the team. With stacked experience and wisdom from Saban, Milroe cemented himself in the role and never looked back.

“It was bigger than me,” Milroe said, per Chris Low at ESPN. “If I wasn't good enough, then give somebody else a shot. I looked at it as an experiment, but through it all, I was going to be a good teammate.”

Milroe understood the standard at Alabama, which was far from the product on the field in the Tide's early matchups

“At the end of the day, it's about winning,” Milroe said. “You come to Alabama, and that standard never changes, whether you're the starting quarterback, backup quarterback or on the scout team.”

Following his benching, Milroe would go on to have weekly one-on-one meetings with Saban. The two would talk about the previous game while making sure to listen to each other's advice or points.

“A lot of times, we just talk about life. He's helped me with some personal things, and he's been there for me throughout the season. The main thing is that we both talk, what we see in games, feedback from games. He sees a lot of things I don't see, and he's always willing to listen if I see something,” Milroe said.