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On Sunday night, many of you may have been watching a little football game on TV called the Super Bowl.

I realize not everyone loves to watch the annual game, but it is something I at least will watch for a while. This year’s game was very similar to many of the past Super Bowls. The big game has had a history of blowouts.

This year, I don’t think many were expecting a blowout, but I kinda had a sneaky feeling it could. And it’s not who you thought. I thought Philadelphia would have a chance to dominate the game just because they had the best defense in the league. In the NFL, defense really does win championships.

While that ultimately proved to be true, the Super Bowl MVP is someone that many Alabama fans will remember. Technically, he was drafted from Oklahoma, but Jalen Hurts started his college career at the Capstone in Tuscaloosa.

Hurts’ time at Alabama was a tumultuous time. He came in with the weight of the world on his shoulders after Alabama had won its fourth national championship with legendary coach Nick Saban. The expectation was to win a national championship. Nothing else would be deemed successful at that time. As a freshman, Hurts led the Tide on a long winning streak in 2016 that took the Tide all the way to the national championship game. 

However, Hurts and the Tide were bested by Clemson and their quarterback Deshaun Watson, falling in the championship game 35-34. The next season, Hurts continued to win regular season games up until they ran into Auburn in the Iron Bowl in 2017, losing that game by more than 10 points for the first time since Bear Bryant’s era.

And as all of that was happening, pressure was mounting as fans and others may have been calling for his backup Tua Tagovailoa to replace him. Alabama missed the SEC Championship that year but still made the playoffs as the four seed.

In the championship game against Georgia, Alabama struggled throughout the first half, and because of that, Saban decided to bench Jalen for Tua. Of course, Tua led the comeback for Alabama’s fifth championship under Saban.

Hurts decided to stick it out one more year and returned the favor when Tua went out with an injury against Georgia in the SEC Championship, leading the comeback. Tua took the reigns back in playoffs, but in that championship game against Clemson, Hurts never got his chance to lead a comeback.

He went on to have a great year at Oklahoma and got drafted by the Eagles, winning the Super Bowl this year avenging their loss to Kansas City from two years ago.

Hurts’ story of getting benched could be remembered with Michael Jordan for overcoming adversity early in their careers. Jalen is truly one of the best leaders I’ve ever seen in sports, and he’s someone any athlete should study to learn from him.

 

Brent Maze is the publisher of The Demopolis Times. He can be reached at brent.maze@demopolistimes.com.