Former Tennessee Volunteers running back Jalen Hurd transferring to Baylor Bears
By John Buhler
Former Tennessee Volunteers starting running back Jalen Hurd has found a new home to play college football. He will join the Baylor Bears of the Big 12.
After playing roughly 2.5 years with the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC, former starting running back Jalen Hurd decided to leave the Tennessee program mid-season. He had growing issues with Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones over his usage at running back and opted to transfer this spring.
Hurd has decided to use his final year of collegiate eligibility with the Baylor Bears of the Big 12. He will have to sit out his 2017 NCAA season, but look for him to play his redshirt senior season at a different position: wide receiver.
FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported Hurd’s transfer to Baylor and his position change. It wasn’t splitting carries with Alvin Kamara in Knoxville that had Hurd opt for a transfer. Hurd’s departure from the Tennessee program had a ton to do with having to run out of single-back sets.
Jones had essentially promised Hurd that he would have a fullback to lead block in front of him when he committed to Tennessee in 2014. Tennessee has been almost exclusively a three-wide, single-back offense during the Jones era in Knoxville. Running backs take a beating in this running scheme and Hurd had enough.
Transferring to Baylor as early as 2016 would have been a total shock for someone of Hurd’s needs. Baylor ran an Air Raid offense under former head coach Art Briles and interim head coach Jim Grobe. So why would Hurd want to go to another spread attack with a single-back offense?
Well, Baylor has a new head coach in former Temple Owls main man Matt Rhule. Don’t expect the Bears offense to be as passing centric under Rhule. It should be more pro-style than what Briles ran in Waco for years.
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Playing wide receiver could be an easier transition for Hurd than people think. He’ll have an extra year to familiarize himself with Rhule’s route tree before being eligible in 2018. At Tennessee, Hurd was a reliable pass catcher out of the backfield with 67 receptions for 492 yards and six touchdowns.