Jalen Hurts

Jalen Hurts Is The Greatest True Freshman Qb Of All Time, And It's Not Close

... one game to go on the schedule, historians should be able to say that with confidence. No other first-year quarterback remained in the Heisman Trophy conversation into November. No other first-year quarterback won his first 13 starts. No other first-year quarterback accounted for at least 30 touchdowns. (We could do this all day.). And, sure, Hurts gets plenty of help from his Alabama teammates. He’s not the best player on the Crimson Tide this season, and he owes more to “The Process” and the glut of 5-star players on the roster than to his own talents for getting to this point. But if you failed to see the spectacular individual plays Hurts made time and time again in 2016, you either weren’t watching or you closed your eyes at the wrong moments. Your next chance comes Monday, when Hurts and the Tide face Clemson in the College Football Playoff national championship game. A rematch of last year’s title game, it begins about 8 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. TV: ESPN. Jalen Hurts, so good. Just to be sure ...

We Wanted To Put It In Jalen Hurts' Hands

... And, as Boulware says Clemson expected, Alabama struggled to move the ball once the Tigers began containing the Tide's running game. After Bo Scarbrough's second touchdown run gave Alabama a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, eight of the Tide's final 11 drives ended with punts during the 35-31 loss. Through 20 minutes, Alabama had already run for 139 yards and two touchdowns while averaging 9.9 yards per carry. The Tide only ran for 52 yards on 19 carries the rest of the way until a Hurts 30-yard go-ahead touchdown run with 2:07 remaining. The absence of the running game made Alabama more dependent on Hurts, who finished just 13 of 31 for 131 yards. "He obviously made some good plays," Boulware said of Hurts, "but we knew that they're a lot more comfortable running the ball, and I think, overall, we did a pretty good job slowing that down.". Clemson only ran two or three ...

Jalen Hurts, An Unflappable True Freshman Qb

... the rest of the sport has since discovered, one of the key reasons why the No. 1 Crimson Tide and its true freshman quarterback can both make history in Monday's College Football Playoff national title game at Raymond James Stadium. "He doesn't get rattled," guard Korren Kirven said. That, more than anything, explains why Hurts blossomed into the SEC's offensive player of the year and is on track to join Oklahoma's Jamelle Holieway as the only starting quarterbacks to win national titles as true freshmen. Granted, Hurts' talent is unquestioned. He joined 'Bama last January as one of the top dual-threat quarterback prospects in the country. After Lane Kiffin worked Hurts out in high school, the Tide's then-offensive coordinator told Saban that Hurts could be a future first-round draft pick. But it's Hurts' uncanny poise that has impressed his teammates and rival coaches, allowing an 18-year-old to lead Alabama to ...

Nobody Understands Jalen Hurts Like Jamelle Holieway Does

... if the Sooners were doomed when quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a broken ankle in Week 4 against Miami. Turned out, Oklahoma had a wishbone savant on the sideline just waiting to be unleashed in true freshman Jamelle Holieway. Holieway took over for Aikman, then took Oklahoma all the way to the national championship with a victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl. Never before had a true freshman quarterback led his team to a national title. Not since, either. But Monday against Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T (8 ET, ESPN), Alabama true freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts will have the chance to join Holieway. Jamelle Holieway piloted Oklahoma to a national title, beating Penn State in the 1986 Orange Bowl. Joe Skipper/AP. "I love the kid," said Holieway, who noted he has been paying close attention to Hurts this season and sees several similarities to himself, from the way Hurts carries himself on the field to his style of play. "He doesn't break under pressure. He keeps his cool. He ...

5 Things To Know About The Alabama Crimson Tide Quarterback

... talent sure runs in the family! His older brother Averion Jr. is the starting quarterback for Texas Southern University. Like Jalen, he was also coached at the QB position in high school by his dad. 3. Jalen proved to be one of the best rookie quarterbacks in NCAA history in his freshman year at Alabama. He became the Crimson Tide’s starter in the second game of the 2016 season, leading his team to a perfect 12-0 record. His stats were completely out of this world, with 2,454 yards and 21 touchdowns in the air and rushed for 840 yards and 12 touchdowns. Jalen’s standout season earned him the 2016 SEC Offensive Player of the Year title. A photo posted by Jalen Hurts 2️⃣ (@thefuture_____2) on. May 21, 2016 at 12:05 pm PDT. 4. Jalen takes academics seriously. In addition to  being a standout athlete , he is still committed to his studies. He finished 39 th in his class academically at Channelview High School, and was proudly there for his mom Pamela when she received her master’s degree in 2016. 5. ...

Jalen Hurts Breaks Alabama’s Single-season Touchdown Responsibility Record

... starts the next two to three seasons for Alabama, he likely will shatter the school’s career touchdown responsibility (80; 77 passing, 3 rushing) and total offense records (8,969), both of which are held by former quarterback AJ Mc Carron (2010-13). Earlier this season, Hurts also set a few other Alabama records. Hurts also tied the school’s single-game touchdown responsibility record of five against Mississippi State , when he had four passing scores and one rushing. In the same game, he had 447 yards of total offense (347 passing, 100 rushing), which was third most in school history behind Sims’ 484 yards (445 passing, 39 rushing) against Florida in 2014 and Scott Hunter’s 457 (484 passing, -27 rushing) against Auburn in 1969. One week later against Chattanooga , Hurts broke Alabama’s single-season quarterback rushing record of 791 previously set by Steadman Shealy in 1979. With the victory, Hurts would have ...

Clemson Safety Jadar Johnson On Alabama Qb Jalen Hurts

... a good quarterback for a true freshman. But I don’t think he’s seen a d-line like we have. He’ll be running around a lot from those guys.”. Hurts runs a lot regardless (891 yards rushing for the year). But his 22 touchdowns to nine interceptions along with just a 7.5 yards per pass average are potential weakness the Tigers can exploit. Washington held Hurts to just 57 yards passing in the semifinal, and he'll be working with a new offensive coordinator this week. Yet other Tigers have been a little more effusive in their praise of Alabama's quarterback this week. "A weakness?" said Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables. "Yeah, I don't see one. They're in the national championship. So he's played out of his mind, in my mind.". " Jalen Hurts makes it difficult," added Clemson senior linebacker Ben Boulware. "He's a very mature young guy. So we, obviously, have our game plan, things that we want to try to do to slow him down, but he's a great player, very talented and can do a lot of things with the ball. So he makes it ...