UCLA Football: Should Chip Kelly go after Alabama’s Jalen Hurts?

Averion Hurts, father of Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts, suggested to Bleacher Report that his son could transfer if he doesn’t win the starting job. If that is true, should UCLA football go after this player that has national championship experience?

The UCLA football team has several directions it can go with Chip Kelly in charge and you can be sure the new Bruin head man is looking at all of his options. Could Alabama QB Jalen Hurts be one of those options?

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It speaks volumes when someone says a player could be the “biggest free agent in college football history”, but that is the claim that Hurts’ father, Averion Hurts, said about his son as he suggested that the signal caller could leave Alabama if he loses the starting job to Crimson Tide savior Tua Tagovailoa.

If you remember, back on January 8, Tagovailoa replaced Hurts in the second half of the National Championship Game, sparking a comeback against the Georgia Bulldogs that gave Alabama a 26-23 overtime victory and their second national title in three years.

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Fast forward to this morning when Bleacher Report talked with the elder Hurts. In summation, if Tagovailoa beats out Hurts, it seems the younger Hurts would look elsewhere to play his final two years of eligibility. Though that is only a thought, if Hurts in fact moves on, Kelly should go after him.

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The only problem is that UCLA already has a lot of depth on the roster. Currently, Devon Modster, Matt Lynch and Austin Burton are battling it out in Spring Practice. This fall, Michigan transfer Wilton Speight and 4-star dual threat Dorian Thompson-Robinson will join in on the action.

Though there is an impending QB Battle Royale in Westwood, Kelly should continue to go after the players that will help elevate his program, which would include going after Hurts.

Let us say it does happen, Hurts would have to sit out a year, making him eligible to play in 2019. By then, Speight will be gone, Modster, Lynch and Burton will be redshirt juniors and DTR could possibly be a redshirt freshman. Though that creates a logjam, it gives the Bruins several impressive options, as well as backup.

Though Hurts lost the job in the National Championship Game, he is no joke as he helped lead Alabama to a 27-2 record over the last two seasons. Last year, he accumulated 2,081 passing yards with 17 touchdowns and 1 interception, but did you know he is a dual-threat quarterback (which seems perfect for Kelly’s system)? On the ground he collected 855 yards (5.6 yards per carry) with 8 touchdowns. Seems like a fit to me.

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But as stated above, the Bruins already have a lot going for them at the quarterback spot. Who knows if (1) Hurts actually transfers and (2) if one of the current QBs on the roster, especially the younger ones, has an amazing 2018? A lot of things can happen between now and 2019, but if Hurts is an option, Kelly should jump at the opportunity.