Hurts So Good

Not often do you find an individual who handles sitting the bench as classy as Alabama quarterback, Jalen Hurts.  Jalen was pulled and replaced by Tua Tagovailoa during halftime of last year’s NCAA Championship game against Georgia after having led his team to back to back National Championship games.  The move to Tua worked out for the Crimson Tide and they became the 2017 National Champions.  Fast forward to 2018 and we found Tua starting for the Crimson Tide and Jalen coming in after the games were out of hand.  It would have been easy for Jalen to go pout in a corner or transfer to another team.  But, to the surprise of many, he opted to stay at Alabama, continue improving his skills and support his teammates.  Jalen electing to take this path is not common in sports during this age of “I’m great, just ask me.”

I may not have the opportunity to work with Jalen Hurts in the future, however, I’m hoping to work with his type.  Someone who puts the work in day in and day out for the hope to help the team at some point when his number is called and the games on the line.  Far too often, players and parents complain about playing time and find themselves transferring to another team only to find out the grass isn’t as green as it looked through their rose-colored glasses.  Jalen Hurts is a role model to all youth athletes and he deserves to be recognized for being a class act, a heck of a ballplayer, and most importantly, a teammate for the ages.  What transpired yesterday couldn’t have been scripted any better.  When someone approaches football, work or lifelike Jalen does, I’m certain good things will come.