Hurts totals 6 TDs in record-setting Sooners debut – ESPN

NORMAN, Okla. — Jalen Hurts, in his mind, is aid the assign he belongs.

The senior quarterback switch had a file-surroundings Oklahoma debut on Sunday night, leading the No. 4 Sooners to a 49-31 retract over Houston with a profession-excessive 508 offensive yards and six touchdowns.

“I’m aid the assign I’m supposed to be,” Hurts acknowledged afterward.

Hurts used to be nearly flawless on Sunday. He used to be staunch (20-of-23 passing). He threw it immediate, long, from the pocket and initiating air of it. He ran with relative ease, and while donning the identical No. 1 jersey his predecessor wore. For a couple of moments, he may perchance per chance likely’ve fooled the 84,534 current that they were watching Kyler Murray — who came about to be in attendance himself.

Essentially the most intelligent numbers were staggering: 332 passing yards, 176 speeding and three touchdowns of every kind. He joined Johnny Manziel as the utterly other player within the past 15 years to throw for 300 yards and three ratings and whisk for 150 and three ratings in a game. It used to be a moment Hurts, a Houston-earn 22 situation product, has been hungry for.

“He is waited a truly long time,” Hurts’ dad, Averion Hurts, told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “He is aid the assign … it is seemingly you will likely likely explain he belongs.”

It be another chapter in a protracted, winding fling for Jalen Hurts. He used to be the SEC’s Offensive Participant of the 300 and sixty five days as a freshman. He led Alabama to consecutive national championship game appearances. Even alongside with his 26-2 file as an Alabama starter, his accolades changed into background as he used to be supplanted by Tua Tagovailoa in Alabama’s 2018 national title game retract over Georgia, and Hurts’ capability switch changed into even handed one of essentially the most talked-about reviews within the nation.

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Despite Jalen Hurts’ six-touchdown performance in his Oklahoma debut, he says the Sooners made sloppy plays and desire to play better football going forward.

For Hurts and those shut to him, Sunday used to be about getting him aid to that level. Now, with Murray and Baker Mayfield‘s old success as a backdrop, Heisman Trophy buzz is sure to open in earnest. Nonetheless Hurts wired many times that there may perchance be loads of room for enchancment for himself and the Sooners.

“The fact is I’m no longer the identical player I used to be as an 18-year-ancient freshman, a 19-year-ancient sophomore,” Hurts acknowledged. “We did some true things tonight, but we get gotta proceed to settle on steps to be the assign we desire to be.”

Stated Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley: “He performed true. There are a lot of things he can assemble better, but I presumed he handled the moment. You would articulate accessible that he’d been in it [before] … I presumed he made true, sound choices and managed the game properly.”