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Jalen Hurts’ rise from Alabama’s bench to potential Super Bowl champion a lesson in The Process
By David Wasson
Published:
One of the more useful aphorisms in life is that success is borne in failure – signifying that setbacks and failures can be valuable stepping-stones to success by providing lessons and opportunities for growth.
That is most often attributed to Albert Einstein. But in college football, perhaps the best example of learning from adversity is busy preparing for Sunday’s Super Bowl.
That failure is Jalen Hurts.
It is difficult to believe that the quarterback Nick Saban benched at halftime of the 2017 College Football Championship game would end up being one of the leaders of the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. But here we are, 7 years later, and Hurts is 60 minutes away from a world championship ring. Per FanDuel Sportsbook, Hurts’ Philadelphia Eagles 1.5-point underdogs against Kansas City in Super Bowl LIX.
Who would have thought Hurts would have gotten to New Orleans after that fateful first half against Georgia in January 2018 – where he completed just 3-of-8 passes for 21 yards and got yanked for Tua Tagovailoa?
Who would have thought that Hurts, who as the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2016 had also led Alabama to the cusp of the national title, would not only rebound from an embarrassing moment to not only recover his collegiate mojo but continue to shine in the NFL?
None of that was clear after Tagovailoa engineered a huge second-half comeback against the Bulldogs, culminating in a stunning overtime victory and 5th national title under Saban. Just like that, Hurts was on the bench – and after he didn’t regain the starting spot during the ensuing offseason – he was bound to stay there.
Typically, that’s where the story ends: Players like Hurts routinely ending up accepting their seeming fate and letting virtual scar tissue essentially ruin their future in the game. But not Hurts … he stayed ready as a loyal teammate behind Tagovailoa throughout the 2018 season (which bore fruit in the SEC Championship Game when Tagovailoa was injured and Hurts came off the bench for a come-from-behind victory).
“We talked about it very briefly. … (He) expressed his disappointment in himself and was deeply hurt,” said Byron Henderson, Hurts’ former coach at Texas’ Channelview High School, said in a 2023 ESPN interview.
“But he immediately gathered himself and went back to work. … He blamed no one for the way things went at Alabama but himself; therefore, he knew that the only one to fix it or make it better was himself.”
Hurts graduated from Alabama after the 2018 season with a degree in public relations and information sciences, and was encouraged by Saban to consider transferring to Oklahoma. Hurts did just that, and a second act that few players ever get.
“I said, ‘You need to go to Oklahoma. They got the best coach to develop you as a quarterback. And you’re going to be around the best players, so that’s going to enhance your chances of having success.’ He did that,” Saban told Sports Illustrated in 2023.
Under then-Sooners coach Lincoln Riley, Hurts indeed thrived in Norman – throwing for 3,851 yards and accounting for 52 total touchdowns to lead Oklahoma to a Big 12 championship and the College Football Playoff. He earned a trip to New York, too, finishing 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting behind Joe Burrow.
“He had a great year. I was worried about having to play him in the Playoffs,” Saban said in the SI interview. “And I can’t tell you how proud I am of seeing this guy in the Super Bowl, only because I know firsthand what he went through to get there.”
The Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round with the 53rd overall selection in 2020 and he continued his evolution in the NFL. He became Philadelphia’s starter near the end of his rookie year, enjoyed a breakout season in 2022 that led to the Eagles winning the NFC Championship and a date with the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
And 2 years later, Hurts and the Eagles are again back within reach of pro football’s ultimate goal – with the Chiefs once again standing in their way. With a win, Hurts will join fellow Tide QBs Bart Starr, Joe Namath and Ken Stabler as Super Bowl champions.
Success is borne in failure, just like Einstein talked about and Saban tried to teach his players.
“He taught us that every year is a new season, and it’s an opportunity to restart everything, so you start from the ground up,” said Hurts of Saban and his Alabama experience during a Super Bowl media availability earlier this week. “And you have to have that approach. I think just being able to improve from year to year since my freshman year at college and learn from all my experiences, learn from all of my lessons.
“Being able to stand here where I stand today, I think it’s because of that mentality — being determined, having that endurance to keep going and being diligent with the work. The No. 1 thing that I’ve always wanted to do was quantify my work and make the most of those opportunities. And it’s kind of spoke for itself.”
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
