Torrid start turns tepid for Tide star

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

TUSCALOOSA , Ala. -- The first time Freddie Milons touched the ball this season, he fielded a punt and darted through the Rose Bowl turf and UCLA defenders for a 71-yard touchdown return.
Milons made it look so easy in giving the Crimson Tide a 7-0 lead in its Sept. 2 opener.
Alabama seemed on its way to an impressive victory in its national title hunt as Milons quickly thrust himself into the Heisman Trophy race.
"After I hit the end zone on that play, it was like, 'OK, I think we've started something real nice this year,' " Milons said.
But things haven't worked out so nicely for Milons and the Tide.
UCLA came back to beat Alabama 35-24, triggering a free-fall that has seen the Tide (1-2) drop from the No. 3 ranking in the country to out of the polls going into Saturday night's game at Arkansas.
Milons -- a junior flanker who last season produced touchdowns receiving, running, passing and kick returning to help lead Alabama to its first SEC championship since 1992 -- has struggled to produce the big plays that could pull the Tide out of its offensive rut.
While Milons leads Alabama with 13 receptions, those catches have gone for 93 yards -- a 7.2-yard average -- and he has fumbled three times.
Milons has only four rushing attempts for 18 yards and is averaging 18.8 yards on five kickoff returns. He's averaging 32.3 yards as a punt returner, but has just three attempts.
Last Saturday night's game at Birmingham was especially frustrating for Milons as he dropped some passes and didn't get to handle any punt returns and Alabama lost to Southern Mississippi 21-0.
"It was a game I hated, because the offense was struggling," Milons said. "I looked upon myself to make some plays to pick us up, and I think I got too anxious on a couple of passes.
"I was trying to do too much without catching the ball first, which sometimes I have a knack for doing. I need to sit in the hole and catch the ball first, and worry about my move next."
The Tide hopes Milons' next move is to break out against Arkansas.
"Freddie had the big play against UCLA, and stuff like that can happen three or four times a game for him," Alabama senior guard Griff Redmill said. "That's what we need to start happening.
"Our offense depends on its playmakers doing big things, and Freddie is the playmaker for us. We've got to have him performing."
Milons would settle for a repeat performance of last year's Arkansas game, when he caught seven passes for 109 yards and threw a 66-yard touchdown pass to Jason McAddley on a reverse to help fuel Alabama's 35-28 victory.
"My best memory of that game was seeing Jason wide open and getting him the ball, then how the crowd erupted after he caught it and scored," said Milons, who played quarterback at Starkville (Miss.) High School. "It was a great feeling to energize the team and the fans that way."
The Arkansas game helped energize Milons, too.
He finished last season with a school-record 65 receptions for 733 yards and also got some snaps at quarterback and wrecked Florida in the SEC Championship Game by rushing for 116 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown run that clinched Alabama's 34-7 victory.
Oddly, this season Milons has lined up at quarterback just once, running for 4 yards on a keeper against Vanderbilt.
Alabama Coach Mike DuBose said there haven't been the right opportunities to use Milons at quarterback as the Tide -- 87th nationally in scoring offense (17.3 points per game), 93rd in total offense (277 yards) and 113th in passing efficiency -- searches for answers to its problems.
"Hopefully, when we can get our offense in gear, we can start doing those things," DuBose said of using Milons more at quarterback. "But until we establish who we are offensively and our identity, I don't think we need to get into those types of things just yet.
"I would hope going into the fourth game that we could, but we're not quite there."
Milons said he's ready to do anything to help jump-start the Tide's struggling offense, especially after the Southern Mississippi shutout.
"As an offensive group, we really can't wait to get back on the field and show the fans that what they saw last Saturday was not Alabama football," Milons said. "We're very disappointed in ourselves.
"We know the fans are upset as well, but they can't imagine how upset we are for them to have to sit there and watch what they did."
Milons, who has returned three punts for touchdowns in his career, including a 62-yarder against Michigan in the Orange Bowl last year, said he's not going to force things in the kicking game to try and make a play that's not there.
"One thing I'm not going to do is rush it and do something crazy to cause a turnover," he said. "I'm going to be patient, and hopefully our defense will put the other team in a situation where they will have to punt out, and then I'll get a chance to do what I do."
Milons can do so much for the Tide, as he proved last season, particularly against Arkansas.
"Hopefully, history will repeat itself when we play Arkansas," Milons said. "And not just for me, but for our whole offense."

This article was published on Thursday, September 21, 2000

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