Jalen Hurts may not have said it publicly, but he knew in his heart of hearts that the Heisman Trophy winner was a forgone conclusion several weeks before last weekend’s official presentation ceremony.
That didn’t make him any less proud and grateful of being one of the four finalists invited to New York City to participate in the festivities.
“I think just coming here (is an honor),” Hurts told Ryan Aber of The (Oklahoma City) Oklahoman about half an hour after the Heisman ceremony had ended. “I think my whole purpose — we still have opportunities to accomplish and things we want to as a team.”
Earlier that same week, Sooner head coach Lincoln Riley had described his team as “hungry” going into its third consecutive College Football Playoff, which not coincidentally aligns with the three seasons Riley has been the head coach at Oklahoma.
On Saturday night, Hurts was asked the same question, but before he would answer he wanted to know what Riley had said on the subject:
"“Hungry? I would say starving,” the Oklahoma quarterback and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year said."
Joe Burrow, quarterback of top-ranked LSU, the team the Sooners will meet in the College Football Playoff semifinal round on Dec. 28 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, was the landslide winner of the 2019 Heisman Trophy.
Burrow, who like Hurts completed his collegiate career at a school different from where it originated, received 2,608 points, 1,846 more than second-place Hurts. Burrow garnered 841 first-place votes, a record 93.7 percent of all the ballots cast.
Oklahoma has had seven Heisman winners in its history, tied with Ohio State and Notre Dame for the most by any one school. No school, however, has sent more finalists to New York City than Oklahoma since the Heisman Foundation began inviting finalists to NYC for the presentation ceremony in 1982.
Hurts was the 11th Sooner to go to New York as a Heisman finalist.
Since 2000, four Oklahoma quarterbacks have won the Heisman, including in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018. In addition, over that same time two other Oklahoma players finished second in the Heisman voting (Josh Heupel in 2000 and Adrian Peterson in 2004), another one third (Baker Mayfield in 2016) and a fourth Sooner finished fourth one year (Dede Westbrook in 2016).
It would be foolish to think thoughts of potentially winning the Heisman didn’t enter Hurts mind in electing to transfer to Oklahoma. He had seen two consecutive Sooner quarterbacks walk away with college football’s most coveted piece of hardware.
Why wouldn’t Hurts think that by coming to OU, under arguably the best offensive mind in college football, he could be in line to make it a trifecta.
Were it not for Burrows’ sensational season at LSU, who knows? Hurts could very well have been the player hoisting the 45-pound iconic trophy last Saturday before an august assembly of former Heisman winners, coaches and guests.
That is now behind him, though, and Hurts is someone who is always looking forward, learning from the lessons of the past in order to get better and achieve bigger things.
No question the Heisman would have been a great personal accomplishment, but Hurts also recognized he would have an excellent chance of winning a national championship under a coach like Riley and with a championship-caliber team like Oklahoma.
After a whirlwind week on the awards circuit, Hurts had turned his attention to what lies ahead and getting back to Oklahoma to begin workouts this week in formal preparation for LSU and the playoff.
“I came to the University of Oklahoma to do something special with my teammates,” Hurts said. “That hasn’t been done yet. The Heisman, any other award, I could care less about.
“I’m anxious to get back to work and handle business.”
For now, the Sooners’ No. 1 is focused on No. 1 LSU and the College Playoff.