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Transfer SZN: Oklahoma's Top 10 Transfers of the Last 20 Years: No. 3, Jalen Hurts

With Lincoln Riley in between quarterbacks and Jalen Hurts out to prove himself again, their skills and the timing of it all were perfectly suited to each other.

John E. Hoover

The NCAA transfer portal is always open. With 10 transfers over the last two seasons — including five Division I transfers new to the Oklahoma roster in 2021 — OU has made a living off transfers in recent years. Every Tuesday this summer, SI Sooners examines Oklahoma's 10 best transfers of the last 20 years. Today: No. 3, Jalen Hurts.

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No. 3: Hurts So Good

Lincoln Riley needed a quarterback. Jalen Hurts needed a quarterback coach.

Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Their pairing was brief, but it was perfect: college football’s preeminent QB guru had just sent Kyler Murray to the NFL, and his next prodigy, Spencer Rattler was finishing high school. Hurts had lost his starting job at Alabama to Tua Tagovailoa and still had more to prove in his senior year.

Remember when Baker Mayfield came to OU and was the centerpiece of a viral video, dancing (impressively) for his teammates? 

Hurts was the subject of a viral video, too: of him in the OU weight room, also surrounded by teammates, squatting (impressively) 600 pounds.

Different, but similar: Both Mayfield and Hurts immediately endeared themselves to their teammates and became forceful leaders on the team.

At Alabama, Hurts was an instant sensation, throwing for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushing for 954 yards and 13 touchdowns. As a freshman, he was named SEC offensive player of the year as Alabama lost the national championship game to Clemson.

But Hurts plateaued somewhat as a sophomore, throwing for 2,081 yards and 17 TDs and rushing for 855 yards and eight TDs.

Then came his infamous crash: he was ineffective and ultimately benched at halftime of the 2017 national title game against Georgia, and Tagovailoa came off the bench to rally the Crimson Tide to a stunning overtime victory.

Hurts’ junior year in Tuscaloosa was spent as Tagovailoa’s understudy — he was the backup QB, he ran some specialized packages, he lined up at receiver — and soon decided that would be that. Jalen Hurts never pictured himself as a backup.

Read More Top 10 Transfers

Still, when Tagovailoa got hurt in the SEC title game, it was Hurts who came in and rallied Alabama to victory. Bama beat OU in the College Football Playoff semifinal in Miami, then lost to Clemson again in the CFP title game. Hurts was asked repeatedly at Orange Bowl media day if he had considered transferring to Oklahoma, but he declined to answer.

A month later, Hurts was racking those weights in Norman. (He's also the first transfer on our list who wasn't a junior college transfer.)

In his one season as a Sooner, Hurts shattered numerous OU offensive records, including most yards rushing (1,298) and most touchdowns rushing (20) by a quarterback. He also completed 69.7 percent of his passes for 3,851 yards with 32 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

His total offense for the 2019 season (5,149 yards) ranks second in school history to Murray’s 5,362, and his touchdown total (52) ranks third behind Sam Bradford (55) and Murray (54).

Hurts’ rushing total ranks 12th in school history (including running backs), and his passing total ranks eighth. His completion percentage ranks third — just a shade behind Murray and Mayfield’s .698. And his passer efficiency rating (191.20) ranks fourth in school history behind Murray (2018), Mayfield (2017) and Mayfield (2016).

Hurts owns three of the top nine total offense outputs in OU annals: 508 against Houston (fifth), 491 against Kansas State (eighth) and 485 against Texas Tech (ninth).

Maybe critics thought Hurts wasn’t the ideal quarterback for Riley’s passing game, but Riley learned a thing or two about how to exploit defenses with the quarterback run game. While Murray ran for 1,001 yards (on 140 carries) the year before, much of that was on scrambles. Hurts ran the football (233 carries) on designed keepers and read options, and he ran it like a fullback.

Jalen Hurts celebrates in Waco
Jalen Hurts celebrates in Waco / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Hurts also directed the Sooners’ biggest comeback victory in school history, a 34-31 win at Baylor in which OU trailed 28-3. Hurts finished that night in Waco with 297 passing yards and four touchdowns and 114 yards rushing.

Hurts’ offensive explosion at OU was surprising, but maybe it shouldn’t have been.

In Tuscaloosa, Hurts had four offensive coordinators and four quarterback coaches in three seasons. In Norman, he had Riley — and on his way to helping Oklahoma win its fifth consecutive Big 12 Championship and getting the Sooners back to the CFP, Riley turned Hurts into a second-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jalen Hurts
Jalen Hurts / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

After Carson Wentz signed a massive contract extension, Hurts was a surprise pick of the Eagles in the 2020 draft. But as Wentz wilted last season, Hurts got on the field more and more until finally coach Doug Pederson handed him the starting job and traded Wentz.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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