Advertisement

Early enrollee key to Alabama's success against QB Deshaun Watson

Graham Watson

PHOENIX — Jalen Hurts took part in his first Alabama practice on Jan. 4 and immediately became one of the most important players to the program.

Hurts, an early enrollee quarterback for the Tide’s 2016 class, was given a No. 4 jersey and asked to replicate the play of Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson as his new teammates prepared for the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against the Tigers. According to teammates, Hurts never flinched.

In fact, it was just the opposite. Hurts gave Alabama a true dual-threat quarterback to practice against, an option the team wouldn't have had if the four-star dual-threat quarterbacking recruit out of Channelview, Texas, hadn't graduated early.

“We have several guys that have sort of filled that role and I don’t know that anybody could actually be that as well as Deshaun Watson does it,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said during media day on Saturday. “But Jalen did a really, really good job, was very athletic and I think that was a real plus for our team to have him there for a few days to have that kind of quickness for us to try to react to.”

Saban said Hurts’ enrollment was great timing for his team and that he can’t recall another point in his career where an early enrollee had become such an integral piece to his team’s season.

The task of preparing for Watson, who rushed for 145 yards against Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal, has not been an easy one simply because most players said they only faced one guy like him this season — Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs. In that contest, which was at Alabama, Dobbs completed 13 of 22 passes for 171 yards and had 16 rushes for 19 yards. The Tide won 19-14.

Similarly, Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott, another dual-threat quarterback on the Tide’s schedule, had 26 carries for 14 yards.

Alabama played Tennessee on Oct. 24 and Mississippi State on Nov. 14, so it’s been awhile since the Tide have had to account for a quarterback leaving the pocket. Linebacker Reggie Ragland acknowledged he was a little rusty and showed that rust after a few plays against Hurts.

“He got me a couple times,” Ragland said chuckling. “He’s quick and fast just like Deshaun is, so he gave us a great look the whole time he was at practice.”

Coming into the game, Watson has thrown for 3,699 yards and rushed for 1,032, which is better than Dobbs or Prescott. He had seven games with 93 or more yards rushing. While Alabama has had success against dual-threat quarterbacks this season, it knows Watson will present a more formidable challenge.

Defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson said as far as he could tell from watching film, playing against Hurts was about as accurate of a stand-in for Watson as the Tide could have gotten.

“He’s kind of the exact same,” Robinson said of Hurts’ and Watson’s styles. “In high school, he ran all the time, threw the ball and he’s just been imitating him very well. It’s been great for us.”

For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.

- - - - - - -

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

And don’t forget to keep up with all of Graham’s thoughts, witty comments and college football discussions on Facebook