Jalen Hurts Lashes Out over Alabama QB Controversy
When Alabama coach Nick Saban sent Jalen Hurts to the bench in the College Football Playoff title game against Georgia, it may have been the move that saved the Crimson Tide’s championship season.
It also led more than a few people to wonder if the seed hadn’t been planted for one monster of a quarterback controversy when the team went back to work to defend that title in the fall.
Well, the seed was planted, and now it’s starting to sprout like a kudzu plant.
Tua Tagovailoa stepped in during that fateful game and, down 23-20 to the Bulldogs and facing second-and-26 after a sack on first down, delivered a 41-yard strike to DeVonta Smith that secured the 26-23 win and the title.
Tagovailoa had also hit Calvin Ridley, now with the Atlanta Falcons, on a big throw late in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 20 and set up the extra frame, wiping out a 13-0 halftime deficit that had sent Hurts to the bench in the first place.
But despite being the guy who couldn’t come up big in the biggest moment, Hurts is angry about the controversy unfolding this year.
“When I look at the things that are being said — and I’m not looking for it, it comes to me — when I see that those things are being said, that’s silly because, ‘He said this, he said that, maybe Coach Saban said this,'” Hurts told reporters Saturday. “‘Whoever said whatever.’ What did Jalen say? Not a thing.”
Saban went on record as saying he had “no idea” whether Hurts would even be on the roster when the season starts, not exactly a vote of confidence in a senior who will be graduating from Alabama this fall.
Saban was addressing rumors that whoever loses the starting job — Hurts or Tagovailoa — might transfer rather than spend the season on the bench.
Hurts reportedly went to Saban and said that he intended to stick around and that the rumors weren’t true; since he isn’t considered a major NFL draft prospect, Hurts intends to complete his college degree in advance of working out in the off-the-field world.
Hurts talked about how he felt left out of the decision-making loop with regard to his own future.
“I mean, this is a situation that is uncontrollable,” Hurts said. “Coaches can’t control this situation. They dictate who plays, but as far as the other variations to it, they don’t control it, honestly. Like I said, this whole spring, ever since the game, they kind of wanted to let it play out, and I guess didn’t think it was a thing to try to let it die down like there wasn’t something there. But that’s always been the elephant in the room.
“For me, no one came up to me the whole spring, coaches included, no one asked me how I felt. No one asked me what was on my mind. No one asked me how I felt about the things that were going on. Nobody asked me what my future held. That’s that. So now it’s like when we try to handle the situation now, for me, it’s kind of late, it’s too late, the narrative has already been created.”
On some level, Hurts could have headed this off by not playing poorly in the national title game. Getting benched because your team’s high-powered offense has no points against not just a championship opponent but one from your same conference — Georgia — is going to have a lot of fans calling for your hide unless something is done.
On the other hand, Hurts is 26-2 as a starter, threw 17 touchdowns against just one interception last season and seems to be bearing a disproportionate amount of blame when compared against his teammate’s heroic finish to that game.
Saban has given no hint about whom he’s planning to start in the season’s opening game. He even went so far as to say to reporters, “You guys are totally fixated on who has to be first team and who is second team. Why?”
But at the same time, Tagovailoa is a sophomore with pro potential, a guy who’s already proven himself with a come-from-behind win worthy of standing among the great performances even in the history of a program as storied as the Crimson Tide, and the quarterback of the future.
Even as he’s angry at his coach and his school for hanging him out to dry, Hurts is still confident in his abilities.
“I know what I need to do,” he said. “I’m definitely not looking over my shoulder. I’m not worried about anybody else. I’m just worried about me, Jalen Hurts, being the best player that I can be, be the best quarterback that I can be.”
And what does Tagovailoa have to say to all this? Well, for one thing, he’s not playing into the whole trying-to-seize-the-starting-job hype.
“I don’t think that’s ever been in my persona,” he said. “I think what we have to do as a team is what’s most important to me. We’ve got to focus on what we can do now to better ourselves, better each other. As the season goes on, we’ll see and what-not. But we’re just focused on trying to better ourselves as a team, preparing for the first game, and just looking at how we can identify ourselves this year.”
But with every bucket of water the Tide have tried to throw on this fire turning out to be gasoline, things could really get out of hand once the season starts.
After all, we won’t know who the starter is until it’s first-and-10 and we see the jersey of the guy under center.
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