As a true freshman for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team in 2016, Hurts competed to open the season as the starting quarterback. Blake Barnett started the first game against the USC Trojans, but by the second game, Hurts had taken over the starting role, becoming the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Alabama in 32 years (Vince Sutton in 1984 was the last).
Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football at the University of Alabama, where he made two consecutive College Football National Championship appearances and was a member of the team that won the 2018 title. Hurts used his final year of eligibility at the University of Oklahoma where he quarterbacked the Oklahoma Sooners to the 2019 Big 12 Conference title and an appearance in the 2019 College Football Playoff. At Oklahoma, Hurts was a finalist for the 2019 Heisman Trophy, finishing second in the voting.
In Week 8, Hurts threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns in a 38–31 win over the Washington Commanders, earning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In a Week 9 game against the Cowboys, Hurts scored his 33rd career rushing touchdown, surpassing Randall Cunningham for the most by a quarterback in franchise history. In Week 12, Hurts achieved his 10th rushing touchdown for the season and finished with 265 total passing and rushing yards and five touchdowns in a 37–34 win over the Buffalo Bills. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to have three consecutive seasons with at least 10 rushing touchdowns each. In Week 16, in a game against the Giants, Hurts scored his 15th rushing touchdown of the season, breaking the record for rushing touchdowns in a single season by a quarterback, which was previously set by Cam Newton in 2011. The following week, in a game against the Cardinals, Hurts scored his 36th total touchdown of the season with a throw to wide receiver Julio Jones, breaking the franchise record held by Randall Cunningham that Hurts had tied the season prior. In Week 18, Hurts suffered a dislocated middle finger against the Giants and was taken out of the game early. The following week, the Eagles lost 32–9 in the Wild Card round of the playoffs against the Buccaneers. He earned Pro Bowl honors for the 2023 season. Hurts ultimately finished the season with career highs in passing and rushing touchdowns, but also led the NFC in total turnovers with twenty.
Hurts produced a historic freshman season under head coach Nick Saban. He threw for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns with nine interceptions. His completion percentage was at 62.8 percent, and he finished the season with a quarterback rating of 139.12. He rushed for a total of 954 yards and 13 touchdowns, breaking the school single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback, surpassing Steadman Shealy's previous record of 791 yards. He finished the 2016 season with 36 overall touchdowns breaking the previous record for touchdowns in a single season for the Crimson Tide (35) set by Blake Sims in 2014. Hurts became the first quarterback coached by Nick Saban to rush for more than 11 touchdowns in a single season. He was the first player in Alabama history to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same game and the first quarterback to rush for 120 yards or more in multiple games.
In his first game as a Sooner on September 1, 2019, Hurts shattered Oklahoma's single-game yardage record in a debut (previously held by Baker Mayfield when he put up 396 yards of total offense against Akron in 2015), putting up 508 yards of total offense against Houston. On September 28, in a 55–14 victory over Texas Tech, he had 415 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and one interception to go along with nine carries for 70 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Hurts helped lead Oklahoma to a 7–0 start to the season. The team's first setback came against Kansas State on October 26. In the 48–41 loss, Hurts passed for 395 yards and a passing touchdown to go along with 19 carries for 96 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Hurts attended Channelview High School in Channelview, Texas. Hurts's father, Averion, was the football coach at Channelview High School throughout his son's high school career. As a senior, he passed for 2,384 yards with 26 touchdown passes and rushed for 1,391 yards and 25 touchdowns. Hurts was a second-team all-district selection as a sophomore and was named the District 21-6A Overall MVP as a junior during his high school playing years. Throughout his high school career Hurts was rated as a four-star recruit and was ranked among the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the Class of 2016. Although Texas A&M made a strong push to recruit Hurts, Hurts committed to the University of Alabama on June 5, 2015. He was recruited by Alabama's defensive line coach Bo Davis and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin.
In the Iron Bowl game against Auburn, Hurts completed 75% of his passes, which set a new Iron Bowl record. Alabama concluded its 2016–2017 regular season with a perfect 12–0 (8–0 SEC) record. On November 30, 2016, Hurts was declared one of the ten finalists for the Manning Award, which is given to the nation's top college quarterback. On December 3, 2016, he led his team to win the 2016 SEC Championship over the Florida Gators and was subsequently named SEC Offensive Player of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, and received Freshman All-American from several publications. Hurts was featured on the cover page of Sports Illustrated College Football Playoff magazine on December 6, 2016. On January 9, 2017, top-seeded Alabama lost the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship against the Clemson Tigers by a score of 35–31. The bowl game was played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
In 2017, Hurts led the Tide to an 11–1 regular season record, losing 26–14 to Auburn in the regular season finale. The Tide still qualified for the College Football Playoff as the #4 seed, where they played Clemson in the 2018 Sugar Bowl semifinal. Hurts was the offensive MVP in that game, with Daron Payne being the defensive MVP in a 24–6 win over the Tigers. Going up against the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, Alabama fell behind 13–0 at halftime, and Hurts was benched in favor of true freshman Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to a come-from-behind 26–23 victory in overtime. Hurts finished the 2017 season with 2,081 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, and one interception to go along with 855 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.
Hurts completed his B.A. in communication and information sciences in December 2018.
On January 16, 2019, Hurts announced via social media that he would be transferring to the University of Oklahoma for his final year of eligibility. As a graduate transfer, he was eligible to play for the 2019 season.
On December 6, 2020, Hurts relieved Carson Wentz, who was benched due to ineffective play, against the Green Bay Packers. In this Week 13 matchup, Hurts threw his career first passing touchdown to Greg Ward and finished with 109 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception in the 30–16 loss. On December 8, 2020, Hurts was named the starter for their Week 14 game against the New Orleans Saints. In his first NFL start, Hurts completed 17 of 30 passing attempts for 167 passing yards and one touchdown, leading the Eagles to a 24–21 win. Hurts also added 106 rushing yards, totaling 273 all purpose yards. On December 20, 2020, in Week 15 against the Arizona Cardinals, Hurts finished with 338 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 63 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the 33–26 loss. In Week 16 against the Dallas Cowboys, Hurts threw for 342 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, and rushed for 69 yards during the 37–17 loss.
Jalen Hurts is an advocate for women in sports and employs an all-female management team, including his social media, marketing, communications, and sports agent team members. In 2021, Hurts honored female empowerment and women in sports when participating in the NFL's "My Cause, My Cleats" initiative.
Before the start of the regular season, Hurts switched his jersey number to No. 1, which had become available with the departure of punter Cameron Johnston. On August 31, 2021, Hurts was named the starter for the regular season by new head coach Nick Sirianni.
Hurts helped lead the Eagles to a playoff berth after defeating the Washington Football Team 20–16 in Week 17 and with wins from the San Francisco 49ers and Packers later that day. On December 23, 2021, Hurts was named a 2021 Pro Bowl National Football Conference (NFC) alternate. In the 2021 season, Hurts finished with 3,144 passing yards, 16 passing touchdowns, and nine interceptions to go along with 139 carries for 784 rushing yards and ten rushing touchdowns. He led all quarterbacks in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in the 2021 season.
In 2022, Hurts provided vocals on the Christmas album A Philly Special Christmas.
Selected by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft, Hurts became their starter near the end of his rookie season. He had a breakout season in 2022 when he led the Eagles to their conference's top seed and an appearance in Super Bowl LVII, earning him Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors.
On June 20, 2022, Hurts filed for a trademark for the phrase "HURTS SO GOOD." The trademark registry says that it will be used for a clothing line that includes "men's, women's and children's clothing, namely shirts, jackets, sweatshirts, pants, shorts, vests, gloves, socks, sweaters, underwear, skirts, hats and belts." As of December 2023, the application is still under review by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
On January 21, 2023, Hurts led the Eagles to a 38–7 victory over the Giants in the Divisional Round of the 2022–23 NFL playoffs. In doing so, Hurts won his first playoff game, and later led the Eagles to a 31–7 win in the NFC Championship against the 49ers to advance to Super Bowl LVII and face the Kansas City Chiefs. In the game, Hurts threw for 304 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for 70 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns, the most rushing yards and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in Super Bowl history. His three touchdowns and a two-point conversion also tied the record for most points scored in a Super Bowl with 20. However, Hurts also lost a fumble which was returned for a touchdown by Nick Bolton in the second quarter, and attempted a Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game which fell short as the Eagles lost to the Chiefs, 38–35. He was ranked third by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2023.
Hurts finished the season with a starting record of 14–1, tying a franchise-best (with Randall Cunningham) 35 total touchdowns (22 passing, 13 rushing) to just six interceptions, 3,701 passing yards, and a 101.5 quarterback rating. As a result of his play in the 2022 season, Hurts was named to his first career Pro Bowl, and was a Second Team All-Pro. On January 25, 2023, Hurts was named as one of the five finalists for the NFL Most Valuable Player Award.
On April 17, 2023, Hurts signed a five-year contract extension for $255 million ($180 million guaranteed), making him the highest paid player in NFL history, although that was surpassed just 10 days later by Lamar Jackson's contract with the Baltimore Ravens. The deal also includes a no-trade clause, the first in Eagles history.
Hurts completed his M.A. in human relations in May 2023.