The mindset of the guys on the team has been outstanding. The biggest thing that I saw was guys still getting work in because it would have been easy to just sit at the house and not do anything.”

Tompkins senior quarterback Jalen Milroe

Although the coronavirus pandemic made things a little difficult in the offseason leading up to his final season under center for the Tompkins Falcons, quarterback Jalen Milroe said he got comfortable being uncomfortable and has made strides to prepare himself to lead his team on another postseason run.

Milroe, along with his head coach Todd McVey, recently appeared on an installment of the QB1 show hosted by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine’s managing editor Greg Tepper where the pair of Tompkins representatives talked about what this offseason has been like amid the pandemic.

“The mindset of the guys on the team has been outstanding,” Milroe said. “The biggest thing that I saw was guys still getting work in because it would have been easy to just sit at the house and not do anything. But guys have been steadily getting better, we were actually able to Zoom, we have a sportsYou app that posts the workouts for all of us to stay active.”

McVey said the sportsYou app has been a great tool the coaching staff has been able to stay in touch with the student-athletes through the long and uncertain road that started when school let out in March.

“We've got kids doing what we call Falcon curls, and they've got a stick with weights – and I'm talking like their backpacks with books in them – and they're going through the workout and they're out their backyard. We have been very creative,” McVey said. “We've just tried to stay connected on being there for each other. That's the best we can do, and that's our controllable. We don't linger in the bad stuff. We don't allow that. So, we're going to be as positive as we can with each other.”

Milroe, a University of Texas commit, said one of his favorite parts of the offseason came after one of the zoom meetings where his teammates reached out with questions to better understand the offense.

“That was awesome to me because I like explaining things,” Milroe said. “I'm a student of the game, I'm still gonna grow, I don't care how long it takes; in 30 years, 40 years (I still want to be growing). I love the game, I love to get coached but when I'm not getting coached I don't like it.”

He will soon be back to getting coached in person and his head coach who got to see him nearly every day detailed what separates Milroe from other quarterbacks.

“He's big time here for us and he's going to be big time in whatever he does in life, but the way he responds; we talk about E (event) plus R (response) equals O (outcome) all the time,” McVey said. “When I jump on him, he doesn't get pouty because he wants to get better. He knows why I'm getting on him and he excels at trying to take what I said and get better at what we talked about.”

After the University Interscholastic League’s decision to delay the start of the fall sports season, Milroe’s next chance to get better in person won’t come until September but with a commitment in place to continue his athletic and academic careers at the University of Texas at Austin next year, he knows he’s got plenty of road ahead.

“The relationship I have with (Head) Coach (Tom) Herman has been great. I like the offense that he's ran at Texas,” Milroe said. “The relationship we have is the biggest thing because I'm going to be away from home so having a relationship with your coaches and having that support (is big).”