Notre Dame Could Be a Perfect Situation for Jalen Hurts
By J.P. Scott
Rumors are swirling that Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts could transfer from Alabama if he doesn’t secure the starting quarterback job heading into the 2018 season.
In what is probably the biggest developing story in college football (today, at least), it appears Jalen Hurts may be ready to transfer away from Alabama in the event that he does not secure the starting role.
If that is to be the case, the rising junior would make alot of sense for Notre Dame.
It looks like Brandon Wimbush is going to win and keep the starting job for the 2018 season. Once the 2019 Spring rolled around, Hurts and Wimbush — two of college football’s best dual-threat quarterbacks — could end up battling it out for the starting role.
Hurts and Wimbush have similar skill sets. Those similarities would allow for some continuity within the offensive scheme should Hurts win the job — something that cannot be discounted in an era where coaches and schemes are changing overnight.
You could even make the argument that Hurts would make the Irish better than they could be under Wimbush. Hurts has a collegiate career completion percentage of over 60 percent — considerably better than Wimbush’s sub-50 percentage that seems to keep some Notre Dame fans up at night.
You also get the intangibles with Hurts. He’d have a down year to get to know teammates and slowly grow into a locker room leader on the back of his championship pedigree. He could also serve as a valuable mentor for some of the young signal-callers Notre Dame has both offered and received commitments from recently. Those players would only be more prepared as sophomores and juniors after sitting and learning behind a guy who has led his team to the College Football Playoff championship game twice.
All of this — of course — is assuming Wimbush doesn’t evolve into a very good collegiate passer in 2018. If that’s the case, all bets are off.
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Is Jalen Hurts transferring to Notre Dame a longshot? At this point, probably. But should he pull the trigger and become a collegiate free agent, it would be unconsionable for Brian Kelly and the Irish staff to not at least kick the tires and assess his interest. You always want the best players on your roster, regardless of the talent you already have.