Tajh Boyd played Jalen Hurts on Clemson scout team

The Clemson Tigers called on a familiar face to simulate Alabama’s Jalen Hurts in practice leading up to Monday’s National Championship Gae.

Tajh Boyd, who played quarterback for Clemson from 2011 to 2013, was Hurts’s stand-in on the scout team, and it turned out to be fairly taxing.

Ran into former Clemson QB Tajh Boyd. He played Jalen Hurts on their scout team. Pulled a hamstring.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 9, 2017

Of course, some things will have been tough to simulate, given that Hurts is trying to figure out a lot of unfamiliar things that Clemson may not know either. Still, Boyd will know coach Dabo Swinney well, will be motivated to help his school and, perhaps most importantly, has performed at a very high level in the college game.