Nick Saban took a moment on College GameDay to shine a spotlight on Jalen Hurts, and the praise came with the kind of weight only a former Alabama coach can bring.
Hurts is already dealing with a rough setup heading into Week 5 against the Jaguars. The Eagles quarterback is set for a road trip without top offensive weapons DaVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley, and he also talked about losing two key linemen. After a Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, where Hurts completed 44.4% of his passes for 93 yards in a 24-20 defeat, the criticism around him has only grown louder amid the Eagles’ injury pileup.
Saban, though, was quick to remind people who Hurts has been through pressure before.
He pointed back to the 2018 national championship game, when he benched Hurts for Tua Tagovailoa at halftime and Alabama stormed back for a 26-23 win over the Georgia Bulldogs. Saban said, “This was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make as a coach,” and noted Hurts was 26-2 as a starter at the time.
What stood out most to Saban wasn’t the switch itself, but the way Hurts handled it. “The thing that's understated about all this is how Jalen Hurts managed and handled the difficult circumstance that he was put in,” he said, adding that Hurts returned the next year and led Alabama to the SEC championship.
Saban went even further in praising his former quarterback’s makeup: “This guy's character in that situation has been…Just understated. And I think people should really recognize, just how much character he really has…I'm proud of the way he handled that, and it made him better. So sometimes when bad things happen, it makes you better.”
With Eagles fans watching a battered offense try to survive another week, Saban’s words landed as more than just a nostalgic Alabama story. They served as a reminder that Hurts has already lived through one of football’s hardest public gut punches - and came out of it stronger.
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