Paul Finebaum reacts to Jalen Hurts winning Super Bowl LIX, reflects on journey at Alabama

It wasn’t the SEC’s year this past season in college football. However, on Monday, former Alabama and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts scored a victory for the prestigious conference, leading the Eagles to a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. On Monday, Paul Finebaum reflected on Hurts’ journey to the top of the football world.

“One of the saddest things I have ever seen was Media Days for the 2017 championship in Atlanta, and I was walking behind, everybody’s got a big crowd around them, and I saw Jalen Hurts sitting next to a microphone, and I don’t think a single person was talking to him because everyone knew he was about to be replaced by Tua Tagovailoa,” Finebaum said during an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

“I walked up to him and I said, ‘How’s it going?’ ‘It’s OK.’ He knew what was about to happen. He almost got pulled, of course, in the Sugar Bowl against Clemson… The fact that he came back the next year and actually saved Alabama in the same building that he lost his job — it’s really one of the more remarkable college football stories I have seen.”

In 2017, Hurts was a star for Alabama. In 14 starts, Hurts completed 60.4% of his passes (154-of-255) for 2,081 yards and 17 touchdowns with only one interception.

Despite his regular-season success, Hurts wasn’t cutting it in the first half of the 2018 National Championship. Alabama entered halftime down 13-0 to Georgia. Consequently, Nick Saban benched Hurts for Tua Tagovailoa, who had been the backup that season.

Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to a come-from-behind 26–23 victory in overtime. With momentum behind him, Tagovailoa was expected to start in the 2018 season. Hurts returned to Alabama, nonetheless.

For most of the 2018 season, Hurts played second fiddle to Tagovailoa. However, in a twist of fate, Tagovailoa went down with an injury in the SEC Championship game against Georgia. With the season on the line, Hurts stepped up, carrying Alabama to victory.

Hurts transferred to Oklahoma for his senior season and reminded the nation of his talents. He was electric for the Sooners, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting. The Eagles selected Hurts with No. 53 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and the rest is history.

Of course, Hurts added to that history on Sunday when he led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl victory since 2017, winning SB MVP in the process. Finebaum is happy for the man who was a second-string QB at Alabama not too long ago.

“You can go anywhere as a Super Bowl champion, especially as the MVP, and that carries with you the rest of your life,” Finebaum said. “There are few things quite like it in a team sport. In fact, there is nothing quite like it in a team sport, maybe individual sports.”