JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For nearly five weeks, Jalen Hurd had to wait.
Then Tennessee’s freshman running back had to watch a couple of his fellow Southeastern Conference first-year runners blow up in their respective bowl games.
Whatever Hurd had pent up for more than a month since watching most of the Volunteers’ ugly win at Vanderbilt at the end of November, he let it out in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday, and it set the tone for Tennessee’s 45-28 win in the TaxSlayer Bowl at EverBank Field.
“You could say that,” he said after running for 122 yards and the first two touchdowns of Tennessee’s first bowl win since the 2007 season. “The offensive line did a great job, and the receivers did a great job blocking downfield. They gave me great opportunities.”
Tennessee’s Jalen Hurd runs into the end zone to score during the TaxSlayer Bowl against Iowa, Friday, Jan. 2, 2015, in Jacksonville, Fla. Hurd made the most of them in returning to the hard-running form he showed in spurts during a freshman season in which the five-star recruit was hampered by injuries.