Nick Saban on Thursday responded to a report that suggested Jalen Hurts could transfer away from Alabama.
Saban was asked about the matter while speaking with the media.
“I had a meeting with Jalen’s dad on Saturday after the scrimmage and it was a very positive meeting,” Saban said.
“I think we all want the same thing for all of our players. … Jalen has done a great job. He’s made a significant amount of improvement. His dad was very positive, but I think at the end of the day everyone has career decisions they’ll have to make.
“Nobody knows what the outcome of this situation is going to bring for us. We don’t want any players not to be able to fulfill their goals and aspirations in our program here. We don’t want that for any of our players,” Saban said.
Bleacher Report’s Matt Hayes published a good article on Thursday about Hurts. The article quotes Hurts’ father, who suggests that his son will transfer if he does not win the Alabama starting quarterback job.
“Coach Saban’s job is to do what’s best for his team. I have no problem with that,” Averion Hurts told Hayes. “My job is to do what’s best for Jalen—and make no mistake, Jalen is a quarterback, and he wants to play quarterback. He loves Alabama, loves Coach Saban and everything about that place. But he wants to play, and he will play…”
Averion Hurts also said that if his son doesn’t win the job, he would be “the biggest free agent in college football history.”
Hurts won the Alabama starting job as a true freshman and led the Crimson Tide to the national championship game, where they lost to Clemson. He led them back to the title game last season but was replaced by Tua Tagovailoa after halftime with his team down 13-0. Tagovailoa led the team to a comeback win, and many think he’s the favorite to be the starter in the fall.
Saban may selfishly be trying to drag out the process so he can have both players on his roster, though an injury to Tagovailoa this spring is delaying things. Still, it seems possible that Hurts will end up transferring. And he sure would have plenty of options. There are probably 100 D-I programs that would love to have him.
