Alabama fans show love to Jalen Hurts ahead of College Football Playoff

Alabama football fans won’t be able to root for their team in the College Football Playoff but they can still root for one of their own.

Jalen Hurts left Alabama to play his final season at Oklahoma but he hasn’t left the hearts of Alabama football fans who are cheering on the former Tide quarterback in the College Football Playoff.

What Hurts accomplished on the field during his Alabama career is legendary. How he handled himself off the field as a leader, as a teammate and as a backup was perhaps, even more impressive. Alabama football fans take pride when one of their own matures into a man of strong character, grounded in solid values.  Crimson Tide fans like to claim Hurts was ‘Built by Bama.’

Given widespread admiration of Hurts shared by Alabama football fans, rooting for him at another school would seem natural. But being a fan can turn simple into complicated. As Lane Kiffin said in his introductory Ole Miss press conference, “There’s football and then there’s SEC football.”

Alabama football fans agree with Lane with a ‘yes, but.’ For Crimson Tide fans the line should be, “There’s SEC football and then there’s Alabama football.”

From the lofty perch of Alabama football fandom, rooting for other schools is uncommon enough to feel – well, unnatural. Hurts transcends all that and he pulls Crimson Tide fans into rooting for the Sooners despite other obstacles.

Alabama football fans have little respect for Big 12 football. The defenses are viewed as bad as the offenses are viewed as good. And, many Crimson Tide fans do not like Lincoln Riley. Even accepting Riley’s obvious offensive expertise, he is seen as arrogant, impolite and impertinent.

To measure Crimson Tide perceptions of Hurts, Bama Hammer asked Crimson Tide fans for opinions. One straightforward question was asked – How many Crimson Tide fans will root for Oklahoma in the Playoffs because of Hurts?

The hundreds of responses showed overwhelming support for Hurts.  A subset of those responses was affirmative in pulling for Hurts in the game(s), but not rooting for Oklahoma. Another small, minority opinion could not accept rooting for Oklahoma, under any circumstances.

Check out a sample of responses below.

• From Sylvia Nelson on Facebook,  “I will root for Jalen Hurts because he is a hero! He will always be a Bama Boy in the way he supported our team and hung in there when it wasn’t the easiest thing to do at the time. Wish him the very best of all things now and in the future! ♥️”
• From Darlynn Brown on Facebook, “Jalen is a Built by Bama boy and has Crimson in his heart and blood! He is an alumni graduate of Alabama and gave us his best! He deserves our support, though I am not an Oklahoma fan. I am not a fan of any of the top four, so yes, I will definitely be cheering for Jalen and Oklahoma! Roll Tide!”
• Alexis Hanks on Facebook, “I definitely like Jalen Hurts. He is a Bama Man from the start. He has more class than the whole Oklahoma and LSU teams, including coaches. So, yes I will cheer for Jalen”
• Mack Jones on Facebook (not to be confused with Tide QB, Mac Jones,) “Jalen took the high road. Remained humble and took care of business. I say go Jalen!”
• Beast of the Southeast on Twitter. “I’ll be rooting for Jalen and hating myself because by proxy I’ll also be rooting for OU. But I like Jalen Hurts more than I hate Oklahoma, so it is what it is”
• Finally Fall on Twitter, “Boomer Sooner for this life long Tide fan!!!!”
• Patsy Boykin Swinney on Twitter, “I certainly will be. I will always be thankful for what Jalen did at Bama. The perseverance & attitude that he had was absolutely amazing. He did it right in my opinion.”
• Anthony Parker on Twitter, “Roll Sooners roll!”
• Charles Newman on Twitter, “I don’t know an Alabama fan not rooting for Jalen to have a great game. I still am pulling for LSU, but only want the best for Jalen. He will always be Loved by the Tide!

The ultimate exclamation point on any list of accolades for Hurts comes from his former head coach, Nick Saban, “There’s never been a guy that anywhere in college football that did things more correctly and set a better example as a leader than Jalen Hurts did while he was here by staying here after he was replaced as a starter.”

Well said, Coach, and Roll Jalen Roll!

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