If all goes according to plan at both places, the University of Alabama football team could be watching a lot of Oklahoma — to prepare for a College Football Playoff game.
Sunday night, many members of the team were watching, but not to scout the Sooners. They were watching their former teammate Jalen Hurts.
UA cornerback Trevon Diggs said he texted with Hurts before the latter’s debut for Oklahoma, in which he threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more in a win.
“He was excited to play, happy to play,” Diggs said. “I feel like he showed up.”
Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy added, “Six touchdowns, that’s unbelievable. But that’s what Jalen does, so I’m very happy for him.”
Expectations for Hurts’ tenure in Norman have been high after the improvement he showed in his junior season at UA. How Hurts handled that junior season is why Alabama coach Nick Saban will not be shocked at his future success.
“I think that Jalen set a great example when he was here, when he was a player. He was a good leader, he was a good performer,” Saban said. “I also think when things didn’t go his way he showed a lot of character as a person to continue to try to improve himself and do everything he could to help his team. In this day and age you don’t often see that.
“I think it was a really, really great example on his part and because he did it that way when he got an opportunity he was able to do extremely well, and actually won the SEC Championship Game for us.”
