MOBILE — Former University of Alabama star quarterback Jalen Hurts played last season for the Oklahoma Sooners. But he is still the same player — and more importantly, the same person — that Crimson Tide fans have grown to love.
Back in the state of Alabama for Saturday’s Senior Bowl at Mobile’s Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Hurts has spent the week discussing the return and even got to reunite with his former head coach Nick Saban.
However, the best moments for the 2019 Heisman Trophy runner-up may have come in lesser publicized moments, when Hurts got the opportunity to interact with every day fans young and old at select times during the week.
Take, for example, the adorable moment from Thursday, when Hurts was swarmed by a group of local schoolchildren while departing the University of South Alabama’s football complex after a closed indoors practice session (practices for the Senior Bowl are normally open to the public and at Ladd-Peebles, but Thursday’s weather forced a change).
“This is my dream, Jalen,” one wide-eyed student excitedly told Hurts, as captured in a video by Tyler Dragon.
Hurts, with a smile stretching ear-to-ear, seemed to be soaking in the moment as he stopped to talk with the kids.
He later shared the video with a short but sweet caption.
Impact ❤️ https://t.co/Z58MI2y07i
— Jalen Hurts (@JalenHurts) January 23, 2020
This scene was followed Friday morning by Hurts visiting young patients at the University of South Alabama Children’s & Women’s Hospital. Hurts was joined by other Senior Bowl players, as well as mascots like Bama’s Big Al.
Thanks to @seniorbowl and all involved in yesterday’s YellaWood Community Service Day @USACWHospital! Keep an eye out for the yellow heart stickers on the helmets in today’s #SeniorBowl — each was signed by a child the players are playing for pic.twitter.com/PQHsAxZsol
— YellaWood (@yellawood) January 25, 2020
You can view pictures from that visit here and here.
Friday continued to be a day of fan interaction for Hurts, starting with the Senior Bowl Experience presented by Alabama Power Company and its Meet the Players event presented by Coca-Cola.
As captured by Yellowhammer News, fans were stretched from wall-to-wall in the exhibit hall of Mobile’s Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center as they stood in line to get a picture and/or autograph from Hurts. Hurts’ line far surpassed the Auburn and Crimson Tide team lines.
WOW. This line isn’t for the Auburn Meet the Players booth. Not for the Alabama booth.
It’s the line to go see @JalenHurts at the Big 12 booth. Stretching from wall to wall of the convention center exhibit hall. And then some. pic.twitter.com/U1tMCqJUIH
— Sean Ross (@sean_yhn) January 24, 2020
Unfortunately for many fans waiting in the huge line, Hurts had to leave Meet the Players before the event ended to get ready for the evening’s Senior Bowl Street Party and inaugural Mardi Gras Player Parade, presented by Wind Creek Casino and Austal USA. He left the exhibit hall to a horde of screaming fans.
Right after I took the above video of the line… Hurts left to a throng of cheering fans.
One couple (sporting “house divided” Alabama and Auburn shirts) told me they’d been waiting two hours in line just to see Hurts. They left rather disappointed.#TheDraftStartsInMOBILE pic.twitter.com/gaz97WUvWw
— Sean Ross (@sean_yhn) January 24, 2020
One couple, a wife sporting a Bama t-shirt and her husband in Auburn Tigers attire, told Yellowhammer News that they had been waiting in line for two hours just to see Hurts. They, to say the least, were disappointed that their wait was in vain. However, it goes to show that Hurts’ popularity in the Yellowhammer State has somehow managed to cross the Iron Bowl battle lines, with even Auburn fanatics respecting — and at times adoring — the former Tide star.
Saturday’s Senior Bowl game will kickoff shortly after 1:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be televised on NFL Network.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
