WATCH: Jalen Hurts compares himself to Nick Saban, praises multiple former coaches
Jalen Hurts sees a lot of himself in Alabama coach Nick Saban, whom he played under for the first three seasons of his college career. In an appearance on Monday Night Football’s Manningcast with Peyton and Eli Manning, Hurts revealed that Saban was the No. 1 reason he committed to the Crimson Tide as a high school senior.
“Coach Saban, I don’t think people realize how alike we are,” he said. “That was really the deciding factor of me going to Alabama out of high school is because I saw so much of myself in him. I was like, ‘I like everything about it. I like everything he’s doing. I want to go win a championship.’”
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Hurts’ vision of winning a title would technically come true, just not the way he likely imagined it. Alabama won the national championship during his sophomore season, but Hurts was benched in the second half for true freshman Tua Tagovailoa.
He returned next season as the backup to Tagovailoa before ultimately transferring to Oklahoma in 2019 to play under Lincoln Riley. There he led the Sooners to a Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff appearance before being taken in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
But while Jalen Hurts’ career at Alabama didn’t end the way he wanted, he’ll forever cherish the lessons learned under Nick Saban. He also got the opportunity to learn from several other coaches on the Crimson Tide staff, including now-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin and current New York Giants coach Brian Daboll.
“They all had unique ways of looking at the game,” Hurts said. “I think about coach Kiffin, and he was a guy who told me straight up, ‘I’ve had Amari Cooper. I’ve had Derrick Henry. I’ve had different types of players to where I’m gonna put you in a position to be successful. You just have to go out there and let your talent show. Play the game.’
“Then with Daboll and coach (Mike Locksley), learning their way of the game. Learning coach Daboll’s way, the Patriot way. How they did things in the passing game. Being with coach Riley, he’s always done phenomenal things with the quarterback putting them in position to make plays.”
All that has paid off, as Hurts is on pace for his best NFL season so far and has the Philadelphia Eagles off to a 4-0 start. He’ll hope the keep it up when the Eagles take on the Cardinals at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.