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CECIL HURT: Tide's Jalen Hurts for Heisman, just not this year
Cecil Hurt | Sports Editor
I have no doubt Jalen Hurts will be a Heisman Trophy contender at some point in his University of Alabama career. He's simply too talented, too poised and too electric on the field to be overlooked.
Does that mean he needs to be on the ballot this year, though? Was a record-setting day against a Mississippi State defense enough? (Remember, the Samford Bulldogs had a record-setting day against MSU a few weeks ago, too.)
First things first - I don't have a "Heisman ballot" in mind yet. There are still two weeks of the regular season and some critical conference championship games to go and as much as some "experts" like to start cramming their choice down your throat in mid-September, there really isn't any particular rush to vote. (Please, no jokes about when Election Day is...) Right now, there are a dozen or so candidates worth keeping an eye on. Hurts is one of those - but is he in the Top Three? Or, to the point, can he get there?
There's nothing he can do next week against Chattanooga to enhance his candidacy, not if he runs for 1,000 yards and passes for 1,000 more. The Auburn game is a different story. The SEC Championship Game, if it materializes, probably lands somewhere in between.
Then there's the matter, not of Hurts being great (especially for a freshman) but of what it is that constitutes that greatness. Is it being the most valuable player (or certainly a fine player at the most valuable position) on what is, at this juncture, the best team in college football? Lesser players have won for precisely that reason (see Eric Crouch, the all-but-forgotten 2001 winner whose main qualification was that he played quarterback at Nebraska.) It's almost inevitable that an offensive player on the No. 1 team gets some consideration, although that carries a little less weight than it once did. It's also fair to consider, on the other side of the coin, that Hurts' chances could be diminished by Alabama fatigue after Derrick Henry's win last year.
Is it running ability that could earn Hurts a trip to New York? Is it his passing prowess, which is still in a developmental phase? It's worth remembering that the strongest arm doesn't always translate into a Heisman Trophy. Deshaun Watson is a good passer but not a great one, and he made it to New York as a finalist last year. It's possible to win, not by throwing like Aaron Rodgers but by orchestrating a system, like Danny Wuerffel of Florida did in 1996. Hurts threw the ball well against Mississippi State - he had to feel like he had hours in the pocket after being harassed by a far more fierce LSU defense the week before - but his best plays came from going through his progressions and finding gifted open-field runners like ArDarius Stewart and Josh Jacobs in open-field situations. For the people who still don't let to give Hurts credit, those plays count, too.
Ultimately, it's probably too soon - maybe just one year too soon - for Hurts to appear near the top of the ballot. The exception would be if he does magical things against Auburn. For that to be necessary, the Auburn game might have to be closer than Alabama fans would find comfortable. But even if Hurts isn't on this year's roster in New York, he's likely to get there soon.
TideSports.com - CECIL HURT: Tide's Jalen Hurts for Heisman, just not this year
Cecil Hurt | Sports Editor
I have no doubt Jalen Hurts will be a Heisman Trophy contender at some point in his University of Alabama career. He's simply too talented, too poised and too electric on the field to be overlooked.
Does that mean he needs to be on the ballot this year, though? Was a record-setting day against a Mississippi State defense enough? (Remember, the Samford Bulldogs had a record-setting day against MSU a few weeks ago, too.)
First things first - I don't have a "Heisman ballot" in mind yet. There are still two weeks of the regular season and some critical conference championship games to go and as much as some "experts" like to start cramming their choice down your throat in mid-September, there really isn't any particular rush to vote. (Please, no jokes about when Election Day is...) Right now, there are a dozen or so candidates worth keeping an eye on. Hurts is one of those - but is he in the Top Three? Or, to the point, can he get there?
There's nothing he can do next week against Chattanooga to enhance his candidacy, not if he runs for 1,000 yards and passes for 1,000 more. The Auburn game is a different story. The SEC Championship Game, if it materializes, probably lands somewhere in between.
Then there's the matter, not of Hurts being great (especially for a freshman) but of what it is that constitutes that greatness. Is it being the most valuable player (or certainly a fine player at the most valuable position) on what is, at this juncture, the best team in college football? Lesser players have won for precisely that reason (see Eric Crouch, the all-but-forgotten 2001 winner whose main qualification was that he played quarterback at Nebraska.) It's almost inevitable that an offensive player on the No. 1 team gets some consideration, although that carries a little less weight than it once did. It's also fair to consider, on the other side of the coin, that Hurts' chances could be diminished by Alabama fatigue after Derrick Henry's win last year.
Is it running ability that could earn Hurts a trip to New York? Is it his passing prowess, which is still in a developmental phase? It's worth remembering that the strongest arm doesn't always translate into a Heisman Trophy. Deshaun Watson is a good passer but not a great one, and he made it to New York as a finalist last year. It's possible to win, not by throwing like Aaron Rodgers but by orchestrating a system, like Danny Wuerffel of Florida did in 1996. Hurts threw the ball well against Mississippi State - he had to feel like he had hours in the pocket after being harassed by a far more fierce LSU defense the week before - but his best plays came from going through his progressions and finding gifted open-field runners like ArDarius Stewart and Josh Jacobs in open-field situations. For the people who still don't let to give Hurts credit, those plays count, too.
Ultimately, it's probably too soon - maybe just one year too soon - for Hurts to appear near the top of the ballot. The exception would be if he does magical things against Auburn. For that to be necessary, the Auburn game might have to be closer than Alabama fans would find comfortable. But even if Hurts isn't on this year's roster in New York, he's likely to get there soon.
TideSports.com - CECIL HURT: Tide's Jalen Hurts for Heisman, just not this year
