ESPN: Jalen Milroe Named Alabama QB1 Over Tyler Buchner, More to Replace Bryce Young

Even though Nick Saban has declined to officially announce Alabama's starting quarterback, it appears as if Jalen Milroe will be the choice to fill the void left by Bryce Young.

Per ESPN's Chris Low, the redshirt sophomore is expected to start Saturday's season opener against Middle Tennessee State after getting most of the first-team reps in preseason practices ahead of Tyler Buchner, Ty Simpson and Dylan Lonergan.

There was a lot of anticipation this week for the release of Alabama's official Week 1 depth chart because it would offer some clarity on the situation at quarterback.

Instead, Saban told reporters on Monday he wasn't releasing a depth chart.

"It creates a lot of distractions on our team," Saban explained. "Creates a lot of guys thinking 'Well this guy won the job, now I'm not gonna get to play,' or whatever and quite frankly, we don't need that."

This came after Saban sounded off about people making too big of a deal about depth charts following Alabama's season-opening win over Utah State last year.

During his radio show on Thursday (h/t Nick Kelly of the Tuscaloosa News), Saban did say he told the quarterbacks who was going to start the game and they want him "to play well enough so we have an opportunity to play all the guys at the position because that's important for us."

Milroe has the most experience with the Crimson Tide. He was part of the 2021 recruiting class and has appeared in 12 games over the past two seasons, including his first career start in a 24-20 win over Texas A&M on Oct. 8, 2022.

Simpson, who was also in Alabama's 2021 recruiting class, appeared in four games last season. Dylan Lonergan is a 4-star recruit and No. 16 overall quarterback in the 2023 class, per 247Sports.

Buchner transferred to Alabama in April after spending the past two seasons at Notre Dame. The 20-year-old was the Fighting Irish's starting quarterback to open the 2022 campaign, but a shoulder injury suffered in the second game kept him out until the Gator Bowl against South Carolina.

Even if Milroe gets the start on Saturday, Saban could get all of his quarterbacks some playing time to see what they have to offer in a live-game situation.

Alabama is ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll. Its the team's first time outside the top three in the AP preseason poll since 2009.