Alabama QB Jalen Hurts has 'minor procedure' on injured ankle
Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts injured his ankle in Saturday’s win over Tennessee, leaving his status for the big game against No. 4 LSU up in the air.
Hurts, the top-ranked Tide’s backup quarterback, saw quite a bit of action with his team holding a comfortable lead in the second half. Nick Saban told reporters at an event in Birmingham on Monday that Hurts “twisted his ankle” during his 21-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
Saban characterized the injury as “a bit of a high ankle sprain.” Saban said nobody realized Hurts was injured on the play and that a procedure was performed to help Hurts heal.
Alabama has a bye this week. Hurts will be held out of practice, Saban said.
“They did a minor procedure to help the healing. I think he’ll be out for one week, probably this bye week. He’ll probably be ready to start working again next week,” Saban said.
It’s unclear whether Hurts, who lost his starting job to Tua Tagovailoa, will be available when Alabama travels to Baton Rouge to play LSU on Nov. 3.
“It will be a medical decision as to how fast he can come back,” Saban said. “We’ve had other players have a similar situation and be able to recover fairly quickly.”
While Tagovailoa has established himself as the Heisman frontrunner, Hurts has been solid, albeit mainly in mop-up duty. Through eight games, Hurts has completed 39-of-53 passes for 589 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. He also has 136 yards and one touchdown rushing for the 8-0 Crimson Tide.
Hurts was Alabama’s starter in 2016 and 2017. He won SEC Offensive Player of the Year in 2016.
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