Jalen Hurts

Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American professional football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He began his college football career with the Alabama Crimson Tide, leading the team to consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship appearances in 2016 and 2017. After three seasons at Alabama, Hurts used his final year of eligibility with the Oklahoma Sooners and made an appearance in the 2019–20 College Football Playoff.

Hurts was selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, becoming their starter near the end of his rookie season. He had a breakout season in 2022 when he led the Eagles to their conference's top seed and an appearance in Super Bowl LVII, earning him Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors. Two years later, Hurts won Super Bowl LIX and was named Super Bowl MVP. As the team's starting quarterback, he has led the Eagles to a total of five playoff appearances, three division titles, and two Super Bowl appearances. He has also received three Pro Bowl selections.

Early life

Hurts attended Channelview High School in Channelview, Texas. Hurts' father, Averion, was the football coach at Channelview High School throughout his son's high school career. As a senior, he passed for 2,384 yards with 26 touchdown passes and rushed for 1,391 yards and 25 touchdowns. Hurts was a second-team all-district selection as a sophomore and was named the District 21-6A Overall MVP as a junior during his high school playing years. Throughout his high school career Hurts was rated as a four-star recruit and was ranked among the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the class of 2016. Although Texas A&M made a strong push to recruit Hurts, Hurts committed to the University of Alabama on June 5, 2015. He was recruited by Alabama's defensive line coach Bo Davis and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.

In addition to football, Hurts participated in powerlifting. As a sophomore in high school, Hurts was squatting 500 pounds (230 kg) of weight and would eventually become regional finalist in the 198-pound weight class.

College career

Alabama

Freshman season

As a true freshman for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team in 2016, Hurts competed to open the season as the starting quarterback. Blake Barnett started the first game against the USC Trojans, but by the second game, Hurts had taken over the starting role, becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Alabama in 32 years (Vince Sutton in 1984 was the last).

Hurts produced a historic freshman season under head coach Nick Saban. He threw for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns with nine interceptions. His completion percentage was at 62.8 percent, and he finished the season with a quarterback rating of 139.12. He rushed for a total of 954 yards and 13 touchdowns, breaking the school single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback, surpassing Steadman Shealy's previous record of 791 yards. He finished the 2016 season with 36 overall touchdowns breaking the previous record for touchdowns in a single season for the Crimson Tide (35) set by Blake Sims in 2014. Hurts became the first quarterback coached by Nick Saban to rush for more than 11 touchdowns in a single season. He was the first player in Alabama history to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same game and the first quarterback to rush for 120 yards or more in multiple games.

In the Iron Bowl game against Auburn, Hurts completed 75% of his passes, which set a new Iron Bowl record. Alabama concluded the 2016 regular season with a perfect 12–0 (8–0 SEC) record. On November 30, 2016, Hurts was declared one of the ten finalists for the Manning Award, which is given to the nation's top college quarterback. On December 3, 2016, he led his team to win the 2016 SEC Championship by a score of 54–16 over the Florida Gators and was subsequently named SEC Offensive Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, and received Freshman All-American from several publications. Hurts was featured on the cover page of Sports Illustrated College Football Playoff magazine on December 6, 2016. On January 9, 2017, top-seeded Alabama lost the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship against the Clemson Tigers by a score of 35–31. The bowl game was played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Hurts passed and rushed for a touchdown in the loss.

Sophomore season

In 2017, Hurts led the Tide to an 11–1 regular season record, losing 26–14 to Auburn in the regular season finale. The Tide still qualified for the College Football Playoff as the #4 seed, where they played Clemson in the 2018 Sugar Bowl semifinal. Hurts was the offensive MVP for the 24–6 win.

Going up against the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, Alabama fell behind 13–0 at halftime, and Hurts was benched in favor of true freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to a come-from-behind 26–23 victory in overtime. Hurts finished the 2017 season with 2,081 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, and one interception to go along with 855 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

Junior season

After Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to victory in the National Championship the year before, questions arose if Hurts would remain the starting quarterback for Alabama. In the season opener against Louisville, Tagovailoa was the starter. Hurts came into the game in a rotation. He had 70 passing yards in the 51–14 victory. Tagovailoa was officially named the starter going into the next game against Arkansas State. In a backup role, Hurts earned significant playing time in the 2018 season. He made ten appearances in the regular season, passing for seven touchdowns.

In the 2018 SEC Championship Game, he relieved an injured Tagovailoa and led the team to a 35–28 comeback victory against Georgia. Alabama moved to 13–0 and secured a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Hurts completed his B.A. in communication and information sciences in December 2018.

Oklahoma

On January 16, 2019, Hurts announced via social media he would use his final year of eligibility to transfer to the University of Oklahoma to play for the Sooners. As a graduate transfer, he was eligible to play for the 2019 season.

In his first game as a Sooner on September 1, 2019, Hurts shattered Oklahoma's single-game yardage record in a debut (previously held by Baker Mayfield when he put up 396 yards of total offense against Akron in 2015), putting up 508 yards of total offense against Houston. On September 28, in a 55–14 victory over Texas Tech, he had 415 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception to go along with nine carries for 70 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Hurts helped lead Oklahoma to a 7–0 start to the season. The team's first setback came against Kansas State on October 26. In the 48–41 loss, Hurts passed for 395 yards and a passing touchdown to go along with 19 carries for 96 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.

Hurts helped lead Oklahoma to a Big 12 Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Sooners' season ended with a 63–28 loss to LSU in the 2019 Peach Bowl. Hurts recorded a successful season with the Sooners, recording 3,851 passing yards, 32 passing touchdowns, and eight interceptions to go along with 1,298 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. He finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Joe Burrow.

Hurts' improvement at Oklahoma was further reflected in his rise from a questionable NFL prospect at Alabama to earning early-round NFL Draft projections following his sole season as a Sooner.

Hurts completed his M.A. in human relations in May 2023.

College statistics

Professional career

2020 season

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Hurts 53rd overall in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. After originally being named the third-string quarterback behind Nate Sudfeld, he gained the backup position at Week 2, mainly so he could be used for quarterback runs or as a decoy.

On December 6, 2020, Hurts relieved Carson Wentz, who was benched due to ineffective play, against the Green Bay Packers. In this Week 13 matchup, Hurts threw his career first passing touchdown to Greg Ward and finished with 109 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception in the 30–16 loss. On December 8, 2020, Hurts was named the starter for their Week 14 game against the New Orleans Saints. In his first NFL start, Hurts completed 17 of 30 passing attempts for 167 passing yards and one touchdown, leading the Eagles to a 24–21 win. Hurts also added 106 rushing yards, totaling 273 all purpose yards. On December 20, 2020, in Week 15 against the Arizona Cardinals, Hurts finished with 338 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 63 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the 33–26 loss. In Week 16 against the Dallas Cowboys, Hurts threw for 342 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and rushed for 69 yards during the 37–17 loss.

In Week 17 against the Washington Football Team on Sunday Night Football, Hurts threw for 72 yards and an interception and rushed for 34 yards and two touchdowns before being benched in favor of Sudfeld during the 20–14 loss. Hurts's benching drew allegations of Eagles head coach Doug Pederson attempting to deliberately lose the game; Pederson was fired shortly afterwards.