Jalen Hurts separating himself as Heisman Trophy favorite

Jalen Hurts continues his march toward the Heisman Trophy with another big performance in Oklahoma’s win vs. Texas Tech.

Another Oklahoma game, another performance from Jalen Hurts putting up video-game numbers. The Sooners barely had to break a sweat and were able to take the fourth quarter off in their 55-16 win over Texas Tech that saw Hurts account for 485 total yards and four touchdowns. Just imagine what his numbers would look like if he had to play the fourth quarter.

He is the clear front-runner for the Heisman Trophy.

The biggest challenger to Hurts is his former teammate, Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who should have a similar stat line to that of Hurts in his Saturday afternoon game vs. Ole Miss.

At this point of the year, I’m not surprised by anything Hurts does on the field.

To begin the year, I was a little surprised to see him have so much success in the passing game. But upon further reflection, it’s not a surprise to see Hurts having success as a passer. It was a surprise only because he wasn’t asked to play like this when he was at Alabama.

When he was leading Alabama to back-to-back National Championship Games, Hurts was a run-first quarterback who wasn’t tasked with doing the types of things he’s being asked in Lincoln Riley’s offense.

After Hurts connected with his receivers on a trio of 60-yard completions, he became the first Big 12 player to accomplish that feat since reigning NFL MVP and former Texas Tech quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1178031770958209024?s=20

Pretty good company to be in when it comes to passers, no?

With Hurts’ work ethic it’s no surprise at all to see him thriving. If anything, I wish we got a chance to see it more during his time at Alabama. It was briefly on display his final year when he relieved an injured Tagovailoa in the SEC Championship Game when his arm led to the game-winning score that Hurts used his feet to cross the goal line.

With each passing week, Hurts continues to cross off more boxes as he proves he is more than a running quarterback and is the complete package at quarterback.

Before the year started, would anyone have envisioned him being a potential first round pick?

I wouldn’t.

But today?

I am kinda expecting Hurts to go in the first round and high in the first round at that. I think I’d rather take Hurts than Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, Jake Fromm or some of the other prospects expected to be in the 2020 NFL Draft.

With Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray going first overall after winning the Heisman, I don’t think we should be surprised to see Hurts in a similar position.

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