Oct 15, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) drops back to pass during the first half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
There wasn’t a sophomore winner of the Heisman Trophy until Tim Tebow in 2007.
A redshirt freshman didn’t win until Johnny Manziel in 2012.
There is only one barrier left.
And another SEC quarterback could be the one to do it.
If a true freshman is going to make a serious run at college football’s biggest individual prize, it will likely be a quarterback from a highly ranked team, which brings us to Alabama’s Jalen Hurts.
Hurts is inching closer to the discussion because the top-ranked Tide keeps rolling, beating No. 9 Tennessee 49-10 Saturday as Hurts ran for 132 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. One of those scores came on a 45-yard romp.
After his third touchdown, a 2-yard dash around right end, he found the TV camera and stared into it with a “Stop me if you can” kind of look.
“Obviously,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban, “his ability to run us is something that gives defenses a lot of problems.”
Saban has embraced his first true dual-threat quarterback, letting coordinator Lane Kiffin design an attack that uses tempo and zone-read plays to keep defenses off balance. Hurts has rushed for 428 yards and eight touchdowns. He isn’t perfect in the passing game, but he’s as efficient as you could expect from a true freshman: 113 of 178 (63.5 percent) for 1,385 yards, with nine touchdowns and three interceptions.
“I get on Jalen a couple of times a day,” Saban said Saturday. “The good thing about Jalen is he always takes it right. I always ask him in the locker room, ‘Should I have got on you?’ He says, ‘Yeah.’
“He made some good throws today. He missed some throws. He missed some reads. He turned the ball over twice in the first half. … But he’s getting better every week.”
Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson is still the runaway Heisman leader, but there is no such thing as a Heisman lock in mid-October. Among quarterbacks, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett and Washington’s Jake Browning are other Heisman threats who, like Hurts, play for undefeated teams.
But no team is playing as well as Alabama right now, and that will help Hurts’ candidacy. The default criteria of Heisman voters often is as follows: Quarterback, highly-ranked team, SEC.
Hello, Jalen.
He’ll need to continue to improve — most notably in the deep passing game — and for others to falter, but he’s working toward at least a Heisman invite. The SEC has produced five of the past nine Heisman winners.
Hurts can make a huge statement Saturday against unbeaten Texas A&M.
“When we play really good teams, some of these runs aren’t going to be quite so easy,” Saban said after his team ran for 438 yards against the Vols. “The plays that are there in the passing game we’re going to need to make.”
