Jalen Hurts Tries to Emulate Former Titans Great

Steve McNair's style of play during his NFL career inspired the 2020 draft prospect

Jalen Hurts was just a little more than a year old when Steve McNair led the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXIV.

He was five years old when McNair was named the NFL’s co-MVP. When McNair played his final NFL game, Hurts was still nearly three years shy of being a teenager.

Yet when asked this week which quarterbacks he tries to emulate when he is on the field, the 2020 NFL Draft prospect named the former Titans great in addition to two contemporaries.

“I've always had a thing with Steve McNair,” Hurts said this week in an Instagram Live interview, as reported by 247Sports. “Alcorn State. Played with the Titans. The type of player he was, he was a dog. He could run, make all the plays, improvise plays, make something out of nothing. I like the way he plays.

“And I like Russell Wilson. He was overlooked. He's a baller, won a Super Bowl. Deshaun Watson, played against him. But he's a special guy and special player.”

In three seasons with Alabama and one with Oklahoma, Hurts passed for 9,477 yards with 80 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He also rushed for 3,274 yards and 43 touchdowns.

He was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy last year.

McNair became the first player in NCAA history to surpass 16,000 yards in total offense. His total was 16,823 – 14,496 passing with 119 touchdowns and 2,327 yards plus 33 touchdowns rushing. He set a single-season FCS record with 5,799 total yards in 1994 and finished third in Heisman Trophy voting that year.

The Titans (then the Houston Oilers) selected him third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft.

Hurts will not be chosen that early. Most draft analysts expect he will go late in the first round or early in the second.

Wherever he ends up, he will continue to measure himself against those he admires – and the standard he believes he can set.

“I'm my biggest critic,” Hurts said. “The biggest thing is keep going. Even in a time like this, the world is in a crazy place right now. Knowing that God has a plan, it's going to work out in the end. Keep the faith.”