Alabama football coach Nick Saban has some very high praise for Eagles QB Jalen Hurts.
Hurts started his college career at Alabama and was incredibly successful before being benched in favor of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Eventually, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma, and Saban only has good things to say about his former player. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Jalen Hurts was honest about why this loss hurt him the most. pic.twitter.com/kdsyY149iD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 29, 2019
“There’s not very many guys that ever played college football that went 26-2 as a starter and got replaced… I think it speaks a lot to him that he stayed here for another year and really worked on becoming a better passer. Worked on it every day in practice and then when we played in the SEC championship game, Tua got hurt and [Jalen] had worked hard all year and won a championship for us,” Saban told Eli and Peyton during the megacast of “Monday Night Football” between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.
You can listen to his full comments below.
“There’s not many guys that ever played college football that went 26-2 as a starter and got replaced. … It speaks a lot to him that he stayed here for another year.”
Nick Saban with some major praise about Jalen Hurts’ character 🙌 pic.twitter.com/BE0tOhEYeS
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 28, 2021
I’ve always loved the way that Saban has talked about Jalen Hurts. Hurts was a major recruit out of high school, started multiple seasons for the Crimson Tide, lost his job to a future first round pick and still stuck around for another season.
How many players would do that? How many players would stick around after being relegated to second string? The answer is not many at all.
Yet, Hurts did. He improved, led Alabama in the SEC title game after Tua went down and became a second round pick in the NFL draft after a season at Oklahoma.
To say it all worked out for the best would be an understatement.
Hurts put in the work, was willing to sit behind Tua in order to learn and improve and he’s now a starter in the NFL.
Saban should sing his praises every chance he gets. When most players would have walked away, Jalen gutted it out.
Nick Saban reunites with Jalen Hurts. pic.twitter.com/7zx8RdxCdx
— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) January 22, 2020
Hurts is a hell of an example of what persevering and pushing forward can get you.