Jalen Hurts' journey through college to the NFL's biggest stage, Super Bowl LIX
It's hard for Oklahoma fans to look back on Jalen Hurts' only season in Norman.
During the 2019 college football season, Oklahoma looked like a program that was ready to ascend into the national title game and perhaps win its first since 2000. The work had been done. The foundation was laid.
After making the four-team College Football Playoff in each of the previous two seasons, then-head coach Lincoln Riley landed a third-straight transfer quarterback who proved capable of not just leading the Sooners in a return to the CFP, but winning a semifinal for the first time in school history because, unlike the two players before, Hurts had done it before. And he had a national title ring to show for it.
The former four-star prospect out of Channelview, Texas, committed to Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide back in June 2015. He spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career in Tuscaloosa, all of which resulted in trips to the CFP National Championship. During his sophomore campaign, Hurts led Alabama to an 11-1 regular-season record and a spot in the title game against SEC foe Georgia. After falling behind 13-0 at halftime, Hurts was benched in favor of Tua Tagovailoa, who led Alabama to a come-from-behind win.
Hurts spent the following season in a backup role behind Tagovailoa before entering the transfer portal the following offseason and committing to Oklahoma ahead of the 2019 campaign.
Despite being the starter in Oklahoma's first road loss to Kansas State since 1996 and snapping a five-year, 22-game winning streak on the road, Hurts still threw for 395 yards and rushed for 95. That year, Hurts and linebacker Nik Bonitto brought the Sooners back from the dead in the most dramatic comeback the Sooners have