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Paul Finebaum followed Jalen Hurts’s winding, chaotic collegiate journey from being benched in the national title game during the 2017 season’s ultimate game right up to Sunday night’s victory in pro football’s ultimate game.
During an appearance on Monday morning on the McElroy & Cubelic In The Morning show, Finebaum recalled in detail what Hurts had to go through at Alabama in the aftermath of that national title game when the next season dawned. Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory on Sunday night was led by a bunch of former Georgia stars, but it was also led by Hurts.
“I couldn’t help but not only with the Georgia players, which are too many to name, but to start just reflecting on Jalen Hurts. I think one of the saddest things I have ever seen was Media Days for the 2017 championship in Atlanta. I was walking by, and everyone’s got a crowd around them, and (I) just saw Jalen Hurts sitting next to a microphone, and I don’t think a single person was talking to him,” recalled Finebaum. “Because everyone knew he was about to be replaced by Tua Tagovailoa. I walked up to him and asked how’s it going, and he said, ‘It’s OK.’ He knew what was about to happen. … It’s really one of the more remarkable college stories I have seen.”
Fast forward to Sunday night, when Hurts became not just a Super Bowl champion but a Super Bowl MVP:
“That’s really the story of (Sunday) night, what (Hurts) went through and then he made a really wise decision his last year to go get some different training under Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma,” said Finebaum. “And even the ups and downs in Philadelphia. There were plenty. To lose the Super Bowl a couple years ago, and I think that’s probably one of the more difficult things in life to lose … you can go anywhere as a Super Bowl champion and especially as the MVP. That carries with you the rest of your life. There are few things quite like it, and there is nothing quite like it in a team sport. … Super Bowl MVP will never leave you.”
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
