At Super Bowl LIX, Jalen Hurts gets another opportunity to show growth

NEW ORLEANS — Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts often references his journey. In casual and formal conversations, the 25-year-old talks about the football journey that led him from his home in Houston to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Norman, Oklahoma, to Philadelphia, and to a pair of Super Bowl appearances — one in Los Angeles, one in New Orleans.

It’s been a fascinating journey full of some lows and mostly highs. There have been no horror stories. He has two loving parents, Pam and Averion Hurts Sr. His father was his high school coach.

The rigors have mostly come between the lines.

Hurts appeared on my radar screen as a freshman at the University of Alabama where he produced a historic freshman season, leading the Crimson Tide to a 12-0 record during the 2016 regular season. Alabama reached the national championship game and lost to Clemson but Hurts’ future at Alabama seemed sunny and bright.

The following season, Hurts led Alabama to an 11-1 record and another trip to the national championship game against Georgia. But along the way, there was chatter that Hurts wasn’t such a great passer, that he was a more runner than passer. At halftime of the national title game with Georgia leading 13-0, Alabama head coach Nick Saban made the stunning decision to bench Hurts in favor of freshman Tua Tagovailoa, who led Alabama to a 26-23 come-from-behind victory in overtime and effectively established himself as the Alabama starter.

For Hurts, this was one of the first, maybe the first breaking points of what had been a charmed career.

I never heard Hurts complain, never heard him bash Saban. The only time I heard him publicly reference the benching was in 2023 after Philadelphia earned a Super Bowl berth.

“We have new moments. New moments and new times,” he said when asked about that low point. “I’ve been raised to be who I am. As the times change, the character doesn’t. I always try to never get too high, never get too low, and always give my best.”

Hurts returned to Alabama and served as Tagovailoa’s backup. When Tagovailoa was injured, Hurts stepped in and led Alabama to the College Football Playoff.

Hurts earned his undergraduate degree and then left for the University of Oklahoma where he was tasked with reclaiming his golden football career. He did. Hurts led Oklahoma to a berth in the College Football Playoff and finished second to LSU quarterback Joe Burrow in the Heisman Trophy voting.

“For me it’s been a lot of experiences a lot of lessons a lot of transformation and being able to grow from things,” Hurts said on Monday. “I value myself on being able to learn from the good the bad take them all and to continue to improve.”

When the Eagles drafted Hurts in the second round, there were some grumblings in Philadelphia among fans, something Hurts also referenced after the NFC Championship Game in 2023.

“My first year here people probably didn’t even want me here,” he said. “It was probably one of those things. But it always handles itself.”

Hurts does not play with a chip on his shoulder, he plays with a sharp edge. After the Eagles defeated the Washington Commanders two weeks ago in the NFC Championship Game, Hurts said that he did not play the game for statistics. Asked how he came by that philosophy, Hurts, without hesitating said, “By losing.”

“Failure has to be used as a source of pain to take that next step and there’s learning opportunities in everything,” he said. “It’s human nature to be ignited by shortcomings.”

Hurts uses past failure as fuel. That includes the Alabama benching and probably his fumble in his first Super Bowl appearance that resulted in a Kansas City touchdown.

Eagles coach Nick Siriani has said that one of Hurts strengths is how he grows stronger after setbacks.

“We all have these moments in our life where we have adversity,” he said. “Adversity is not going to hide from you, it’s coming after everybody, no one’s hiding from it. It’s about how you respond. It’s about how you react. It’s about embracing that adversity, knowing that when you do that, it can help make you better.

“Look at Jalen. He’s such a winner. He’s won everywhere.”

Referencing the Alabama benching, Siriani said, “That moment, and now he’s starting in his second Super Bowl. I think the writing is on the wall that Jalen embraced every piece of adversity that he’s hit, and it’s made him better. I see a guy that does that in the midst of each game. I just admire the heck out of him, how he embraced that adversity. Because again, that shaped him into who he is.”

On Monday, Hurts talked about the source of his strength, his capacity to grow from failure. He credited his parents and especially his father.

“I think that it’s underrated the role that a father can play in life,” he said. “My father always told me I was different, he always talked about the ‘It’ factor. He coached so many kids and virtually raised so many kids being a head coach in Houston. He always told me ‘I don’t know what ‘It’ is, but you got it,’ but he never let it get to my head. He always encouraged me and forced me to put the extra work in and put the extra time in.

“Whenever I picked up something and said this is what I wanted to do, they instilled it in me to believe. So early on it kind of carried on as I found my love, my passion for football.”

When Philadelphia played Kansas City in the Super Bowl in 2023, Hurts was brilliant and was on the verge of playing a near-perfect game. But then his fumble was returned for a touchdown that proved to be the margin of victory for the Chiefs.

This week Hurts was repeatedly asked how he has changed since his first Super Bowl appearance.

“Every game is the same, but it requires a different version of you,” Hurts said on Monday. “But every game is the same in the sense of your focus. I think that what happens is that, over time, your focus evolves because you evolve as a person, so you want to continue to try trend forward when those opportunities come.”

Hurts will have yet another opportunity on Sunday. An opportunity to stop Kansas City from achieving history, a chance to outduel Patrick Mahomes, a chance to put a halo around his young career with its highs and lows.

“It’s been a journey,” he said. “I always say there is no arrival in this journey. All you have is the journey. And you have to take it one day at a time.”