Report: Jalen Hurts, Alabama have redshirt agreement for this season

Alabama and Jalen Hurts have an agreement for 2018 that seems to keep all parties’ best interests in mind, according to a report.

Aaron Suttles, who was an Alabama beat reporter for the Tuscaloosa News and now writes for The Athletic, said on his “3 Man Front” radio show on WJOX Friday that Hurts and Bama have an agreement for this season.

According to Suttles, Hurts would be expected to redshirt this season as long as Tua Tagovailoa is not injured.

Our own @AaronSuttles tells us expect Jalen Hurts to be redshirted this season unless Tua is injured. @3ManFront pic.twitter.com/xthD6kKr8P

— Pat Smith (@patsmithradio) September 7, 2018

There are new redshirt rules this season which allow a player to appear in four games and still take a redshirt year. According to this report, so long as Tagovailoa stays healthy, we should not expect to see Hurts in more than four games.

If Hurts were to redshirt this season, he’d be able to leave Alabama as a graduate transfer after the season and still have two seasons of eligibility left elsewhere. This reported agreement seems to serve the interests of both parties perfectly. Hurts is good enough and talented enough where he should be a starting quarterback for a major college program. Alabama should be playing Tagovailoa because he’s better than Hurts, but they also want to keep Hurts because they can contend for a national championship with him at QB if something happens to Tagovailoa.

The only question is whether this report is indeed accurate. Nick Saban has been extremely careful to emphasize the importance of both quarterbacks to the team, even getting angry with a reporter asking about the subject. He’s insisted that both quarterbacks will continue to play. He also said the redshirt rule will not affect how he uses Hurts.

Saban said the new redshirt rule won't factor into how he plays Jalen Hurts going forward. Said you can't pick and choose when you want to play a player.

— Marq Burnett (@Marq_Burnett) September 3, 2018

We will know before too long whether Hurts plays too much to maintain the option to redshirt this year. However, the possibility of him leaving as a graduate transfer after the season seems quite real.