re: How good is Hurts?

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How good is Hurts?

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Hurts so good


Come on baby make it hurt so good
Sometimes love don't feel like it should
You make it hurt so good

He's 7-0 as a starter.

Holy shite! He's Dak Prescott without the ability to really throw the ball.

From what I've seen of him this season he does very well managing the game and while his coaches have been careful in managing his throws and not asking him to do things outside of his comfort zone it's pretty damned surprising that he hasn't made more true freshman mistakes and taken more shots that he shouldn't have. Poise and decision making are very good so far and particularly so for a true freshman.

As a runner, he excels at eating up defenses when he sees busted coverage and/or the defense bites on a misdirection. He recognizes defensive breakdowns quickly and is very adept at exploiting them. He's not unstoppable as a runner but he's a good runner and has been exceptionally smart about when he chooses to run. As a passer, he's good at what he's asked to do and is usually patient/doesn't force things. As a true freshman he's still very much vulnerable to pressure on obvious passing downs, particularly third and long situations and is still getting a handle on blitzes, but Bama has been effective at managing 1st and 2nd down so that weakness has been largely mitigated.

I think he has the talent and time to develop as a passer but he's already effective doing what's asked of him so outside of putting him into uncomfortable situations where the defense can anticipate a passing down and pin their ears back, I wouldn't expect to be able to shut him down completely but defenses can limit him and/or take away the big play and force Bama to drive the entire field using shorter yardage plays but to do that effectively you also have to limit their starting field position.

Thanks.

And I agree with you about the Bama oline. It has been better than expected and made it very difficult for defenses to force Hurts into situations that can be exploited. Of course, just having a running threat at QB will almost always make an oline's job a bit easier because it gives the defense another runner to account for on every play so Hurts has probably given them a boost in that regard.

Really good post, man. I think the disconnect opposing fans have with Hurts is when things aren't clicking and Kiffin is a bit off his game, Hurts can and will look pretty bad. Fans tune in and see it. There isn't really arguing against it as an Alabama fan...the offense doesn't always look good.

But for the most part, they've done a really good job of staying on schedule and ahead of the chains. For as bad as some of his passes look, he also gets in a groove and throws short and midrange passes well. When Alabama is running well and he's doing that, they move the ball down the field in the blink of an eye.

Their offense doesn't rely on hitting 20 yard dimes all game.

Hurts so good....

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Hurts will have more rushing yards than Fournette Saturday night.

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I'll take that bet.

Loser has to wear the other team's logo until their next win.

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LSU holds Hurts to relatively low rushing yards and not allow a non-offensive TD and LSU should win this game?

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I think Alabama's running game with Harris vs LSU's interior DL will be the most important matchup on that side of the ball.

Also think Stewart makes some big plays against Toliver.

Toliver isn't starting. He's 2nd string until he learns to turn his head

Donte Jackson likely starts.