Hurts totals 6 TDs in record-setting Sooners debut
NORMAN, Okla. — Jalen Hurts, in his thoughts, is again the place he belongs.
The senior quarterback switch had a record-setting Oklahoma debut on Sunday evening, main the No. four Sooners to a 49-31 win over Houston with a career-high 508 offensive yards and 6 touchdowns.
“I am again the place I am imagined to be,” Hurts mentioned afterward.
Hurts was practically flawless on Sunday. He was correct (20-of-23 passing). He threw it quick, lengthy, from the pocket and out of doors of it. He ran with relative ease, and whereas donning the identical No. 1 jersey his predecessor wore. For a number of moments, he may’ve fooled the 84,534 current that they had been watching Kyler Murray — who occurred to be in attendance himself.
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The ultimate numbers had been staggering: 332 passing yards, 176 dashing and three touchdowns of every selection. He joined Johnny Manziel as the one different participant previously 15 years to throw for 300 yards and three scores and run for 150 and three scores in a sport. It was a second Hurts, a Houston-area product, has been hungry for.
“He is waited a very long time,” Hurts’ dad, Averion Hurts, advised ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “He is again the place … you could possibly say he belongs.”
It is one other chapter in an extended, winding journey for Jalen Hurts. He was the SEC’s Offensive Participant of the 12 months as a freshman. He led Alabama to consecutive nationwide championship sport appearances. Even along with his 26-2 report as an Alabama starter, his accolades turned background as he was supplanted by Tua Tagovailoa in Alabama’s 2018 nationwide title sport win over Georgia, and Hurts’ potential switch turned some of the talked-about tales within the nation.
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Regardless of Jalen Hurts’ six-touchdown efficiency in his Oklahoma debut, he says the Sooners made sloppy performs and have to play higher soccer going ahead.
For Hurts and people near him, Sunday was about getting him again to that time. Now, with Murray and Baker Mayfield’s earlier success as a backdrop, Heisman Trophy buzz is certain to start in earnest. However Hurts harassed repeatedly that there is a number of room for enchancment for himself and the Sooners.
“The fact is I am not the identical participant I used to be as an 18-year-old freshman, a 19-year-old sophomore,” Hurts mentioned. “We did some good issues tonight, however we have gotta proceed to take steps to be the place we need to be.”
Mentioned Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley: “He performed good. There are a number of issues he can do higher, however I assumed he dealt with the second. You can inform on the market that he’d been in it [before] … I assumed he made good, sound selections and managed the sport properly.”