Jalen Hurts is no longer the starting quarterback at Alabama, but he’s more efficient than ever when throwing the ball.
The 6-foot-2, 218-pound junior has completed 19 of 28 passes for 248 yards with four touchdowns and one interception during the top-ranked Crimson Tide’s opening routs of Louisville, 51-14, Arkansas State, 47-7, and Ole Miss, 62-7. The .679 completion percentage is the highest of his career, as is his efficiency rating of 182.26.
“I think Jalen has certainly improved in the pocket, there is no doubt about that,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said this week in a news conference. “There has never been a question about his arm talent. It has been about making decisions and choices with second reads and that type of thing, which I think he’s really improved on.”
Hurts threw for 2,780 yards and rushed for 954 as a freshman in 2016, when he was named Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year. He threw for 2,081 yards last season as a sophomore and had a sparkling 17-to-1 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio.
For his Crimson Tide career, Hurts has 44 touchdown tosses and 11 interceptions.