Jalen Hurts uses famous Nick Saban term during press conference
By Jake Rill
Published:
Jalen Hurts may no longer be at Alabama, but it’s safe to say the Crimson Tide made an impact on the 21-year-old quarterback, who is now at Oklahoma.
More specifically, Alabama head coach Nick Saban made an impact on Hurts.
During a media availability earlier this week, Hurts dropped a line that was made famous by Saban back in 2017. Oklahoma is preparing to play South Dakota, an FCS school, on Saturday, and Hurts doesn’t want his Sooners to overlook the inferior competition.
“We’re going to treat every game the same,” Hurts told reporters (h/t 247sports.com). “We’ll let y’all [the media] talk about the rat poison of it [laughs]. We’re going to focus on what we need to focus on, and, you know, try to get better; fix our mistakes.”
Saban previously used the term “rat poison” when speaking with the media after Alabama’s 27-19 win over Texas A&M on Oct. 7, 2017. It was a victory, but the Crimson Tide coach expected more out of his team, and he shared his thoughts about his players reading what the media was publicizing.
“I’m trying to get our players to listen to me instead of listening to you guys,” Saban said at the time. “All that stuff you write about how good we are and all that stuff they hear on ESPN, it’s like poison. It’s like taking poison, like rat poison.”
Hurts had an impressive debut for the Sooners, as he totaled 508 yards (332 passing, 176 rushing) and six touchdowns (three passing, three rushing) in their 49-31 win over Houston this past Sunday. He should have another big showing Saturday against South Dakota, as Oklahoma is likely to open the season 2-0.
Jake Rill contributes to news coverage for Saturday Down South. He has covered the SEC since 2016.
