Jalen Hurd hoping for strong finish to freshman season

Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs hands off the ball to running back Jalen Hurd during the Vols' 29-21 loss to the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 22, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs hands off the ball to running back Jalen Hurd during the Vols' 29-21 loss to the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 22, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
photo Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs hands off the ball to running back Jalen Hurd during the Vols' 29-21 loss to the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 22, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE — The wait probably had to be tortuous for Jalen Hurd as he watched helplessly while Tennessee's offense sputtered and stalled with the season on the line in Nashville three Saturdays ago.

The freshman tailback was knocked out of the game against Vanderbilt late in the first quarter after just five carries, and the Volunteers sorely missed one of their top offensive weapons in grinding out just 262 yards of offense.

It was enough to get a 24-17 win against the Commodores that will allow Hurd to write a different final chapter to his first season at Tennessee.

"I definitely wanted to help them win that game," Hurd said after the Vols returned to practice for the Taxslayer Bowl on Sunday afternoon, "and I'm so glad that we did so we could get to a bowl game and finish this year out strong."

Limited to minimal work in games against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Vanderbilt, the former five-star recruit finished the season with 777 yards and three touchdowns on 174 carries and caught 33 passes for 217 yards and two more touchdowns.

Hurd finished 15th in the SEC -- and fourth among freshmen behind Georgia's Nick Chubb, Vanderbilt's Ralph Webb and LSU's Leonard Fournette -- in rushing (64.8 yards per game) and 16th in the conference in all-purpose yardage, which includes punt and kickoff returns.

His three 100-yard games were the most by a Tennessee true freshman since Jamal Lewis had seven in 1997, and only Lewis (1,364 in 1997) and James Stewart (908 in 1991) had more rushing yards as true freshmen than Hurd did this season.

Hurd put up those numbers while fighting through a shoulder injury in October and being knocked out of the finale.

"He just continued to battle and battle," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said.

The battle did not end in an All-SEC freshman team selection, as Fournette, who had 114 more rushing yards, just 24 more yards of offense and three more touchdowns, got the nod behind Chubb, who ran for nearly 1,300 yards for the Bulldogs.

"That's something that I definitely wanted, but it didn't happen," Hurd said, "so I'm going to work harder next year."

Hurd said he planned to focus on hitting hole and becoming more effective at breaking the arm-tackles that kept him from breaking longer runs this season.

The 6-foot-3, 227-pounder wants to add more bulk to his frame, too.

"I do need to get bigger," he said. "That's something that I'm going to do. I just have to keep my speed, get faster and stay elusive as a running back and keep my running-back qualities, but get a little bit bigger."

After electing to have shoulder surgery instead of playing with the injury his senior season at Beech High School in Hendersonville just outside of Nashville, Hurd was limited in how much lifting he could do in Tennessee's winter strength and conditioning program when he enrolled early last January.

The offseason will start after the Vols face Iowa in the program's first bowl game in four seasons, and Hurd knows he should be able to take advantage of it.

"The winter, I didn't get to do much lifting, because I was rehabbing my shoulder a lot," he said. "Going into the spring, I really hadn't lifted that much. Going into the summer, I started lifting really heavily and getting back into it.

"That's what I'm going to get to go into in the winter and into this offseason."

The hope is Hurd can improve his durability even further and turn a promising freshman season into a breakout campaign as a sophomore.

"He has unlimited potential," Jones said. "He works exceptionally hard. He's very tough. He's physically, but he's tough mentally as well, and that shows. I thought he did a very good job of really taking care of his body. I'm excited for the progress that he's shown, and I'm excited for the future as well."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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