This is a somewhat random post, but someone sent over Greg Cosell’s college scouting report of Jalen Hurts and said “It’s as if he’s describing the same player we are watching every week almost two years later.”
Sure enough, when you look through this, it’s pretty much spot on:
Let’s go over some bullets:
A “shotgun QB in a highly-schemed offense?” – check
“very fews snaps under center” – check
“an elongated delivery with a bit of a wind up” – check
“too much unnecessary and wasted movement” – check
“tendency to break down and leave pocket prematurely” – check
“limited feel in the pocket and strong tendency to move” – check
“a pocket leaver much more than a pocket mover” – check
“more of a see it/throw it passer” – check
It’s all true. If you go back through the college film and then compare it to 2021, you’ll find that Nick Sirianni is doing a lot of what Hurts was comfortable with at Bama and Oklahoma. The one thing missing is under center snaps, which Hurts did use in Tuscaloosa, some of which predicated designed QB runs with lead blockers and all sorts of creative designs. He did more passing at Oklahoma in the bullshit Big 12, where he didn’t face a ton of pressure and was able to move around and find guys like CeeDee Lamb and Charleston Rambo.
None of it is necessarily an indictment on Hurts OR Sirianni; it just is what it is. Everybody knew Hurts was somewhat of a hybrid coming into the NFL, and he faced the same exact questions people asked of Lamar Jackson and Cam Newton. So Sirianni is running a lot of RPO and replicating concepts used by Lincoln Riley and Alabama’s coordinators.
I’m in the “give him time” camp and wouldn’t pull the plug on Hurts after just six games. Need to get a full and total evaluation.
