Lincoln Riley had his ‘Aha!’ moment with Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma
It’s Super Bowl week, and all eyes are on Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts as the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs battle it out.
In the offseason, we examined the Riley Files and went in-depth with Oklahoma insider Kegan Reneau, and one large topic was Lincoln Riley’s time coaching Jalen Hurts with the Sooners.
As we look forward to the Super Bowl, here’s one interesting note about Hurts’ time in Norman:
“If you saw Jalen Hurts in 2020 at Oklahoma, that offense, would have been really, really fun,” Reneau said. “That 2019 offense after (the) Kansas State (game), you’re talking creaky. That offense was very hit or miss for the first seven, eight, nine weeks. They were making Jalen Hurts be a quarterback. He wasn’t. But I also think that was some feel, right? Lincoln Riley needed to have confirmation that Jalen wasn’t capable of the things Kyler (Murray) and Baker (Mayfield) were. He got that in Manhattan that day. After that, he really just took the playbook away from Jalen and inserted a new one, and they just took off…Those four or five weeks with Kennedy Brooks and Jalen Hurts were as good in terms of running the football as we’ve seen from an Oklahoma team ever.”
Now, Hurts has become a potential NFL MVP winner, and he is one win away from a Super Bowl victory.
