Getty Joseph Goodman claimed Jalen Hurts for Alabama football in his latest for AL.com
The ongoing debate regarding whether or not Jalen Hurts is an Oklahoma or Alabama football product will surely rage on with the quarterback’s AFC Championship win with the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday. AL.com’s Joseph Goodman ultimately believes it doesn’t matter who claims him, but also recognized that Hurts’ identity is strongly linked to his tribulations in Tuscaloosa.
“There’s something bigger happening now that Hurts is headed to the Super Bowl, but it still centers around the quarterback’s identity at Alabama,” Goodman wrote. “His success and struggles in Tuscaloosa molded Hurts into who he is today, and what he represents. He was “built by Bama” alright, but in a more meaningful way than the billboards could ever advertise.”
Goodman explained how being in the most talented quarterback room of the 2010s brought Hurts’ game to a new level. “Hurts shared a quarterback room with Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones at Alabama — all three are starting quarterbacks in the NFL,” he wrote. “In that crucible, the pressure and weight of competition created diamonds. Push yourself to the limit. You might come up short today, but your lungs will carry more oxygen into the fight tomorrow. That’s the Jalen Hurts story, and win or lose on Super Bowl Sunday no one can take it away from him.”
Joseph Goodman Calls Jalen Hurts “America’s Quarterback”
Due to witnessing first-hand Jalen Hurts’ ups and downs during his Alabama football career, AL.com’s Joseph Goodman believes the country has embraced the 24-year-old as America’s quarterback.
“With an underdog story and something to prove, the Alabama star who was benched at halftime of a national championship game is starting to feel a lot like America’s quarterback,” Goodman wrote. “I’m not saying Hurts is the new Tom Brady. I’m just saying people connect with Hurts on a deeper level, and see the best of what we can be through Hurts’ journey.”
Goodman said that has him going against journalistic code and rooting for Hurts and the Eagles. “As the sports columnist for AL.com, I don’t really have rooting interests in who wins the games,” he wrote. “For Hurts, for the biggest sporting event of the year, I’m making an exception. Go Birds.”
Goodman on Jalen Hurts in Alabama Football Quarterback Room
Jalen Hurts, by way of being replaced permanently by Tua Tagovailoa, did not prove to be the best signal-caller in the Alabama football quarterback room at least during his final year in Tuscaloosa.
Joseph Goodman acknowledged that, but also acknowledged why he has reached the levels he has at the pro level. “Maybe Hurts wasn’t always the best quarterback in the room at Alabama, but he always had class,” he wrote. “He was doubted at Alabama, and he was doubted when he was drafted by the Eagles. He never let it bother him, but he certainly used it all as motivation.”
As Goodman notes, no one thought Hurts would be the first Nick Saban Crimson Tide quarterback to make the Super Bowl. “It took some people longer than others, but they’re figuring it out,” he wrote. “And if you had Hurts as the first quarterback from the Saban era making it to the Super Bowl, then let me know your thoughts on the stock market while you’re at it.”
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