Jalen Hurts on how it felt to come off the bench and lead Alabama to latest championship win
By Andrew Olson
Published:
In the eyes of many, Alabama’s win was poetic.
In a game that will be remembered for years to come, the biggest story was Jalen Hurts leading the Crimson Tide’s comeback.
Hurts, of course, was famously benched the last time Alabama and Georgia met in Atlanta. After a lackluster first half in the national championship game, coach Nick Saban benched Hurts in favor of then-freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa led Alabama to a thrilling victory and went on to win the starting job for the 2018 season.
Many suspected Hurts would redshirt. Despite only being a junior, he is nearing graduation. If he goes somewhere else as a grad transfer, he can play immediately. Redshirting would have saved him a year of eligibility.
Instead, he played in 10 regular-season games, foregoing the redshirt opportunity. He stuck around to be Tagovailoa’s backup.
With Tagovailoa hurt Saturday night, it was Hurts who came off the bench with 11:15 remaining, Alabama trailing 28-21. Hurts engineered two touchdown drives that lifted the Crimson Tide to a thrilling 35-28 win.
After the game, he was asked to explain what it felt like coming off the bench to lead his team to victory against the same team in the same stadium where he was benched in January.
“It kind of feels like I’m breaking my silence,” Hurts said after the game. “I haven’t said anything all year, but this team has worked really hard. In the off-season last spring, we know what adversity looks like. Sometimes we’re going to get hit in the mouth, but we know that we’re going to be fine. We did a great job of getting it done today. I think we did a great job of doing that.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
