Joseph Gill is a second-year English writings major. JG923276@wcupa.edu
“Philadelphia Eagles iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper” by Brian Wilson licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2
Nick Saban is the head coach of one of the most legendary football programs in America. When he was asked to give his opinion on one of those hundreds of players who he had coached in his 13-year tenure at ‘Bama, he had this to say about him: “The guy’s got great character; he’s as fine a person as we’ve ever had in the program. He’s a very good leader. He’s a hard worker. He’s well-liked by his teammates; winning was important to him. He wanted to do whatever he had to do to try and help his team have a chance to win.”
That “great character” is Jalen Hurts.
It was Week 13 of an already tumultuous Philadelphia Eagles season when the birds travelled to Green Bay to take on the red-hot Aaron Rodgers and his Packers. It was in this game that now former coach Doug Pederson would make the decision that would change the Eagles franchise forever. (That is not an overstatement, by the way.)
In benching the struggling Carson Wentz and sticking with that choice through the rest of the season, Pederson shredded the supposedly unbreakable bond between the team and their franchise quarterback. While this was one of many elements that led to the divorce between Wentz and the Eagles, it was the thing that kickstarted the conversations and crumbled Wentz’s confidence. Perhaps his confidence was already shaken when the birds made a very controversial selection in the second round of last year’s draft. That selection was Hurts.
Hurts’ football roots run deep being the son of his high school football team’s coach and the younger brother of the starting quarterback for that Channelview Texas team. Hurts has said he was inspired by his brother and has developed many of his admirable traits by Averion’s example as he’s grown. Those traits were evident in his career under the direction of Saban at Alabama and through his season at Oklahoma. Many of these good traits lie in his off-the-field actions, such as being a regular visitor to children’s hospitals near where he’s lived and gone to school. In many cases, patients asked personally for him because he was their favorite player and Hurts would always oblige, despite his tight schedule with school and football.
As a freshman at Alabama, Hurts sat on the bench behind the up-and-coming star Blake Barnett, but little did the Crimson Tide know, Hurts is not one to stay on the bench for long. In the home opener against University of South Carolina, Barnett struggled mightily, and after a few terrible drives, Hurts jogged out to take the reins — sound familiar? Though he fumbled his first snap, Hurts would get comfortable eventually and lead a blowout against USC and never surrender the starting job back to Barnett.
That season, Hurts threw for nearly 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns. He also ran for an additional 954 yards and 13 touchdowns. The dual threat quarterback was ascending and fast, but the following year would show just how fleeting success can be. While Hurts paved the way through a 13–1 record, with another spectacular statistical year, he would be benched in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship for freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to victory, and Hurts’ starting status was thrown into turmoil.
The following season, Hurts received limited snaps behind the surging Tagovailoa and by Week 2 was named the No. 2 quarterback of Alabama. Like I said before though, Hurts just does not sit well on the bench, and he eventually found himself starting once more for the team that had benched him. Tagovailoa got hurt in the SEC championship, and Hurts stepped up to the plate. Hurts rallied the team back from a third quarter 28–14 deficit and delivered Alabama’s 17th National Title.
His ‘Bama starting job was still in the hands of Tagovailoa, however, and Hurts had to decide where his future was heading for his senior year. With the advice of former Sooners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, Hurts made the decision to transfer to Oklahoma University in order to start the 2019 season. To say Hurts played well would be an understatement; Hurts rocked the world with the opportunity, displaying his ability to improve on past mistakes and not let defeat drag him down.
In the season opener of his Oklahoma debut, Hurts torched the Houston defense putting up over 500 yards of total offense and sparked a seven-game opening win streak for the Sooners. Hurts would steamroll ahead through his best statistical season, posting just below 4000 passing yards, 32 passing touchdowns, nearly 1300 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. Needless to say, he competed very well for the Heisman, finishing second behind Joe Burrow.
Flash forward to Week 14 of his first NFL season, and the Heisman runner-up had just claimed the starting spot from former MVP calibur quarterback Wentz and was poised to spar with the league’s number one defense at Lincoln Financial Field. Hurts ‘the unbenchable’ — as he could very well be known — took the opportunity and, as he so exceptionally does, ran with it.
By now, we here in Philly have no clue what is going on in Howie Roseman’s mind. Is he looking to build around his former second round pick by adding offensive weapons (Ja’Marr Chase, Devonta Smith…)? Will he dare draft a quarterback at No. 6? Will he somehow coax Peyton Manning out of retirement and put him in the starting role? Will we see Nick Foles again?! Who knows? Anything is game with Roseman! But as sure as we are unsure about the future of the Eagles, we can always count on one constant: Jalen Hurts won’t back down from any form of competition. Fly Eagles Fly.