Jalen Hurts is Alabama’s first-team quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Arguably the most anticipated position battle this spring in all of college football was shelved Tuesday when Crimson Tide sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a thumb injury in the opening practice.
“We’re taking him to Birmingham to get that evaluated,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said Tuesday night in a news conference. “It’s probably going to require some time for him to get back. I don’t want to speculate on what the injury might be, but most of the time when these types of things happen, it takes a little while for them to come back.”
Tagovailoa replaced Hurts at halftime of January’s national championship game against Georgia in Atlanta and rallied the Crimson Tide from a 13-0 deficit to a 26-23 overtime victory. That game was decided on a beautiful 41-yard touchdown strike from Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith, who will be practicing some at cornerback this spring to help the Tide’s lack of numbers in the secondary.
Hurts improved to 26-2 in his career as Alabama’s starter thanks to Tagovailoa’s heroics.