Alabama Football: Jalen Hurts, Mannings, Championships and Heisman
By Ronald Evans
For Alabama football, championships come before individual honors. Let’s check up on the growth of Jalen Hurts as a championship quarterback.
In 2016, Alabama football and 10 other SEC teams entered the season without a proven or healthy quarterback. Only Tennessee, Missouri, Texas A&M and Ole Miss began 2016 with experienced and capable signal-callers.
Given such inexperience and in some cases, inferior talent, it is no surprise the SEC did not dominate college football.
Quarterbacking in the SEC should be better in 2017, but all that counts for Alabama football fans is the improvement of Jalen Hurts. Not that Hurts did poorly in 2016. He passed for close to 2800 yards, ran for almost 1000 more and was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year. Pretty darn spiffy stuff for a true freshman.
But all was not glory for Jalen and Alabama football. Mere yards and seconds short of a national championship is not good enough for Alabama football. Jalen knows that and he embraces it.
Last week Hurts and 42 other college quarterbacks attended the Manning Passing Academy as camp counselors and to be tutored by the legendary Manning trio. The Mannings had good things to say about Jalen both as a person and as a quarterback
When asked about preparations for 2017, as reported by Brent St. Germain, Jalen said,
"To become a better quarterback, Hurts said he has been focusing on improving on the little things. “Your feet dictate a lot of things for a college quarterback. If your feet are good, you can put yourself in a position to make a lot of throws. In addition to my feet, I am working on shoulder movement and looking calm whenever I am in the pocket.”"
New Alabama football offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll is tasked with improving Jalen’s downfield passing accuracy. From numerous reports, Hurts and Daboll have meshed together quickly. That does not stop Jalen from giving Saban due credit,
"“Coach Saban is a one of a kind, and he is definitely one of the greatest coaches to ever coach the game. It’s been great for my teammates and I because we get to learn from him every day … every day (I’m) trying to learn as much as I can.”"
Manning camp observers shared their observations on the development and progress Jalen is making. Matt Zenitz reported Senior Bowl scouting coordinator, Patrick Woo said of Jalen,
"“Jalen threw the deep ball really well … last year, that was something Alabama didn’t utilize all that much, he missed a few (deep balls) in the playoff games, but I think that’s his biggest strength … He’s big. He’s obviously smart. And he definitely has a live arm … That ball really zips out of his hand.”"
Senior Bowl Executive Director, Phil Savage had this to say about Jalen,
"“He is physically strong and has a powerful arm, I still think his deep ball is his best throw. He can rainbow it out there."
Those reports are consistent with a growing optimism that Jalen will be an improved quarterback in 2017. Hurts may not the best SEC quarterback in 2017. Former Tide quarterback, Greg McElroy in on record predicting the SEC’s best will be Nick Fitzgerald.
Jalen may not be the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Year again. He doesn’t have to be for Alabama football to win 2017 championships. The talent around Hurts is the most in the SEC.
Other, lesser teams can chase individual awards. Auburn is already touting its new QB as a potential Heisman winner. Then again, they did the same with Jeremy Johnson.
Discussing the Heisman winner in summer is frivolous but the Aubie’s brought it up. Based on way-too-early projections the Auburn player with the best Heisman chance is a running back, Kamryn Pettway at 30/1. Jalen Hurts is at 20/1 and the new Aubie QB wizard, Jarrett Stidham is at 50/1.
That makes Stidham a slightly better bet to win the Heisman than Da’Shawn Hand at 60/1.
Next: 30 Great Tiders who were 3-Star Recruits
If any readers noticed that in this post, no Manning was ever referenced by a first name. That was not unintentional.
RTR Forever!