and Tua with a 75 yard TD pass on the first play.
Jalen Hurts (has learned how to play QB)
- Thread starter Tenntiderman
- Start date
Tua....what a natural player. Same with Jalen. Both are born to QB.
At the time, the rap on Stoutland was that he was not a good evaluator of talent, and only a fair recruiter.
I don’t know enough to know whether that’s an accurate characterization or not.
I do know that (1) Jeff Stoutland got the absolute best out of the players In his OL room, and (2) having watched two years of under-achieving OL talent, I wish he was still here.
Jalen is many things, but a natural QB is not one of them. He’s worked his rear off to get to this point. He was not an effective passer his first two years at Bama and it took a while in the NFL too. But he is a hard worker, strong as an ox, and coachable, which is why he’s probably leading the NFL MVP race.
I couldn't be happier for Jalen. I was one of those who thought he'd never make it in the NFL as a QB. So glad to see him have this success. By all accounts, he's a fine young man. We need more in the NFL like him.
Working his butt off didn't mean he was never meant to be a QB. The man has the eyes of a gambler.
Jalen is only making $1.3 million; the young man going to get PAID; bigly!
Good for him.
Good for him.
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It just goes to show how important development can be. It isn't always just about ability (which he always had) but about getting a chance to harness that ability.
Ultimately circumstances were unfair to him, I always felt that he wins a championship his first year if he just didn't have a trainwreck going on at offensive coordinator during the most crucial time of the season. So many people just wanted to gloss over the fact that he went from Kiffin showing up to work unprepared to do his job followed by only one week of preparation working with a new playcaller for a championship game. All this is a teenager true freshman. Then he goes from that to an offensive coordinator who didn't even want him at the position and wasn't prepared to draw up plays for him.
The fact that he didn't completely crumble said everything about his character and as many posters here can attest to, the fact that some people didn't appreciate his poise annoyed me to no end.
Ultimately circumstances were unfair to him, I always felt that he wins a championship his first year if he just didn't have a trainwreck going on at offensive coordinator during the most crucial time of the season. So many people just wanted to gloss over the fact that he went from Kiffin showing up to work unprepared to do his job followed by only one week of preparation working with a new playcaller for a championship game. All this is a teenager true freshman. Then he goes from that to an offensive coordinator who didn't even want him at the position and wasn't prepared to draw up plays for him.
The fact that he didn't completely crumble said everything about his character and as many posters here can attest to, the fact that some people didn't appreciate his poise annoyed me to no end.
Both of those Georgia games will be legendary forever.
Tua coming in to win the NC.
Jalen coming in to win the SECCG. No one except for us ever gave that guy a chance.
This is why the portal is not a bad thing. I love Jalen, he was not going to play here. He did it the right way and that year at OU helped him grow.
Was at the game in Dallas when he came against USC. What a blast that was.
Was at the game in Dallas when he came against USC. What a blast that was.
It should be noted that he was a grad transfer, so the portal really didn't change things for him at all.
He had to work his butt of because he wasn't a natural QB. He had a hard time completing passes his first two years.
The portal can also be bad in this situation. "I'm not starting in year one, so instead of waiting around and developing I'll enter the portal".
A massive part of this is just his age and inexperience though.
For instance, Tua is actually a year older. Mac Jones is actually about his age, so imagine what Mac would have looked like out there starting in 2016. Even in 2019 Mac Jones had some issues (two pick sixes in the Auburn game cost Alabama a title shot).
What Hurts did was fairly unprecedented. He arrived on campus at the age of 17, from what I can tell had he won the championship game he would have been the youngest to ever do so as a starting QB.
So to say oh he wasn't that good a passer at 17, even early on as a 19 year old is a standard guys well just about no other Alabama quarterback was ever held to.
It just completely missed context. Compare him to someone like Tom Brady, who didn't play a meaningful snap in college until he was 21. When Brady did start in the NFL at the age of 24, he wasn't exactly stellar, with 18 TDs and 12 INTs. So, do we know what Brady looked like throwing the ball at 17? I have no idea, but I just think we judged Hurts on a scale that we don't really apply to most QBs because most QBs are not forced into the situation he was forced into.
Sims and Coker were 5th year seniors. Of course Hurts looked different. There's an alternate reality in which Hurts started at Alabama as a 5th year senior in 2020 instead of Mac, does anyone think he wouldn't have been amazing had that occurred?
It was never a never a Hurts issue. It was a perception issue. Sure he wasn't as developed as some of the most developed college QBs ever. But his abilities and progression were actually quite normal for an NFL level QB, but people just didn't take into account his age and developmental opportunities.
It was unfair and still is unfair to criticize him for basically the crime of being young and inexperienced.
Edit: Not trying to go after you specifically, just trying to put things in the proper context.
Man...I never missed a game when he was there. I didn't say he was polished. A workman to me? Has natural abilities. Not disagreeing about his inaccuracy at times. If someone has the tools...getting a compliment for being a "natural" often times means that that person was Blessed with ability to begin with...for example...i take it that you are a degree holding "engineer". You were born with ALL the gifts one needs to walk out on graduation night with a degree that says YOU are being applauded and hopefully ready to test for a Professional Engineer stamp. You probably (I won't say definitely) could not have become a Professional Engineer right out of High School...but I bet you worked your a** off toward that goal. Have I seen engineers who were idiots? Sure...but they weren't good engineers. Wasn't in them...and they didn't know anything else. Didn't possess the NATURAL talents to begin with. You and I......2 ENGINEERS ...will just have to agree to disagree. Just explaining my point. I was sometimes disappointed with Jalen's throws...but anybody could see it was always there.
Roll Tide Brother!!
Coach....I made one error. I thought you were another poster. I see you are Coach Jeff and a bona fide Bama guy..although you may be an engineer I don't know. But same applies for Coaches. I have coached little ones in Baseball but I don't WANT to coach anything. Won't tolerate whiny parents
The NCO in me..comes out. But I did this on my small phone screen. I apologize to you AND Tide engineer08!! ..
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When Jalen went in; I said; "lets go Jalen, be a legend. Write a storybook ending"
And ;he did.
He definitely has got "IT"
Jalen Hurts got pulled from the 2017 National Championship because he couldn't throw accurate passes. That was his 28th or 29th start of his career. Deep into his second season as QB he couldn't be counted on to pass the ball when he needed to.
He was not a natural passer. Natural passers don't get pulled 2 years in because they can't pass the ball.
He was benched for Tua but kept working hard and when his number was called he did something he had never done before - throw the ball accurately against a good team.
Same thing in the NFL. He was not great his first year, got better, then got *a lot* better.
Josh Allen is similar. He was not a natural passer. He could throw the ball a mile, but not accurately and not consistently. He worked hard and got better. Some guys come in as freshmen and are able to make accurate throws downfield consistently. The freshman at Clemson is one.
Jalen Hurts has/had a ton of admirable traits, but being a natural passer isn't one of them. It's okay to admit someone we admire doesn't possess *every* positive attribute possible.
He was not a natural passer. Natural passers don't get pulled 2 years in because they can't pass the ball.
He was benched for Tua but kept working hard and when his number was called he did something he had never done before - throw the ball accurately against a good team.
Same thing in the NFL. He was not great his first year, got better, then got *a lot* better.
Josh Allen is similar. He was not a natural passer. He could throw the ball a mile, but not accurately and not consistently. He worked hard and got better. Some guys come in as freshmen and are able to make accurate throws downfield consistently. The freshman at Clemson is one.
Jalen Hurts has/had a ton of admirable traits, but being a natural passer isn't one of them. It's okay to admit someone we admire doesn't possess *every* positive attribute possible.
If ESPN doesn't do a 30 for 30 about Jalen and Tua, I don't know why it even exists.
We really still glossing over the fact that his offensive coordinator that year didn't want him starting and needed help drawing up plays for him? That the same coordinator left the program and college football for good after that game? That this was Hurts third coordinator in two years?
Think may be that had something to do with it? This is my point, we're judging him but omitting the negative factors working against him, which would hurt any other QB put into a similarly difficult situation.
And the idea that starts magically make up for years of development is and was always nonsense! I said it then, I say it now. It actually hurt him being forced into playing so early, so to use that as a means of judging him was always illogical.
Of course he wasn't the most developed passer, but that doesn't change the fact that he struggled in situations almost every other QB would have struggled in as well.
Edit: I might as well add that the locker room had also turned against Hurts after the Auburn game. I have clearly laid out why the circumstances leading up to that were largely not Hurts fault, but that also was a massive factor. His coordinator didn't want him, even his own players didn't want him, and all of this on the shoulders of a guy who is barely 19 and he has to go play against the Georgia defense. He actually had incredible composure all things considered. You can't remove these factors when evaluating him.
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