Eagles Jalen Hurts is no stranger to being a young leader on a team, and competing for every snap he takes. This season Hurts will be once again competing to be the team’s starting quarterback and showed no signs of concern over earning his field time.
During his press conference on Wednesday, he highlighted some lessons he learned from former head coach Nick Saban from his time at Alabama and how they still apply to this day.
“I value everything that Coach (Nick Siriani) has brought here,” Hurts said. “I remember back in my days at Alabama, Coach Saban, hearing him talk about discipline, commitment, effort, toughness and pride, having these core values that he is trying to instill in the team. In the end, it all worked for the team.”
He was later asked directly about competing for the starting job and he made it clear that he is not above competing for the spot.
“As far as everything else, I know I’m not above anything with a competition, or football IQ, all the values we have — I’m not above none of that. So that’s kind of where that is.”
Hurts won’t be the only one on the roster jockeying for playing time this fall. The Eagles have a number of new young faces across its roster that will be looking to make an immediate impact.
“I think we’re all hungry,” Hurts said. “I know (Jalen) Reagor is. I know (DeVonta Smith) is. I know that whole, entire receiving corps is. G Ward, the O-line — I think everybody’s hungry. You kind of triggered something in me. Everybody’s hungry because we didn’t do what we wanted to do last year. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to.
“Ultimately, in the end, we didn’t have the outcome we wanted, so we’re very hungry, and we don’t plan on missing meals.”
In 2020 Hurts replaced quarterback Carsen Wentz in a Week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers. He had an immediate impact on his teammates as the offense became much more competitive as he finished the season as the starter.
After ending the year with a 4-11-1 record, Hurts and the Eagles are looking to make noise in 2021.
“It’s always been a get-better mentality every day, grow every day, be a better leader every day, be a better quarterback every day, and when that rent’s due, I don’t plan on missing no payments, so it’s work.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
