Oklahoma football: Why Jalen Hurts will be a Heisman finalist at OU

Every new quarterback brings a new skill set, but  there shouldn’t be much doubt that Jalen Hurts can perform at an elite level at Oklahoma.

A large number of naysayers (a few of them even Oklahoma fans) have come out of the woodwork in the short time that has passed since Jalen Hurts officially announced his transfer to Norman.

Some are saying he’s not consistent or accurate enough to operate the Riley offense, but there are plenty of reasons to believe the Sooners’ newest quarterback will end up in New York City by the end of the season.

Lincoln Riley

This one is easy, right? The Oklahoma head coach is quickly becoming the quarterback whisperer of college football, producing four-straight Heisman finalist seasons from his signal callers.

Yes, both Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray were generational talents, but they never came close to scratching the surface of that potential at their previous stops on the college football quarterback carousel.

It was Riley who brought out the best in each while putting both in the position to succeed.

Remember when people worried the Sooners would be squandering talent at the running back position by bringing in an Air Raid head coach. Nobody was concerned two years later when both Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon went on to the NFL.

Now he’ll fine-tune the offense to work around Jalen Hurts.

He’s a better thrower than people think

If there’s a knock on Jalen Hurts at Alabama, it’s that he wasn’t a game-changer throwing the ball during his two years as a starter. He has yet to crack 3,000 passing yards in a season and much of his production came on the ground.

Those are somewhat valid points, but watching film it’s clear that Jalen Hurts was relying on his legs because he hadn’t fully developed as a decision maker or a passer. Go back and watch the SEC Championship game against Georgia and you will see how much he developed as a thrower between his sophomore and junior years. He was 7-of-9 for 89 yards and a touchdown in relief duty and undoubtedly the reason the Crimson Tide won the game and hoisted the SEC Championship trophy.

Imagine those talents with a year of coaching from Lincoln Riley and in a quarterback-friendly system that is often designed to get the guy under center into a rhythm.  That’s what we can expect from Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma.

The weapons at his disposal are staggering

The Sooners have been pretty darn good at wide receiver for the past half-decade, but with all do respect to those other groups (several of which are now playing in the NFL) this year’s crop of pass catchers could be the best the school has ever seen at one time.

Oklahoma is deep and talented at receiver with CeeDee Lamb, Charleston Rambo, Grant Calcaterra, Mykel Jones, Lee Morris, Jaqualyn Crawford and Kundarrius Taylor all coming back. There’s also Jadon Haselwood, Austin Stogner, Theo Wease and Trejan Bridges coming in what might be the best single-class recruiting haul at the receiver position in the scholarship limit era of college football.

Did I mention they are all early enrollees already on campus?

The Oklahoma running backs are no slouches at catching the ball either with Kennedy Brooks and Trey Sermon both showing skill coming out of the backfield and T.J. Pledger teeming with potential as a pass catcher.

The Sooners will throw dozens of combinations of receivers at opposing defenses and tire out corners and safeties with fresh players coming in and out of the game by drive, all of which will make life easy for a quarterback who already knows how to win on the big stage.