Jalen Hurts Named Alabama Pro Athlete of the Year for Second Time

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Pro Athlete of the Year for 2024-25. The former Alabama standout previously earned the honor in 2022. 

Hurts led Philadelphia to its second Super Bowl title this past season, earning MVP honors in the Eagles’ 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. The dual-threat quarterback completed 17 of 22 passes for 221 yards and a touchdown with an interception while also rushing for 72 yards and a score on the ground during the Super Bowl victory. His 72 rushing yards were the most ever by a quarterback in the Super Bowl. 

Over 15 games in the regular season, Hurts completed a career-high 68.7% of his passes for 2,903 yards and 18 touchdowns with five interceptions. He also added 630 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. His dominating performance against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl came after an equally impressive run in the playoffs, as he combined for 627 total yards and seven total touchdowns during wins over the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders. 

"He just keeps getting better," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said of Hurts after the Super Bowl. "He knows how to win. He does a great job of being able to block out all the outside noise. I find it funny when it's like, you know, 'Well, Jalen is good because he's got a good team around him.' Like, that's football – you cannot be great without the greatness of others. Jalen can't do it by himself. He needs A.J. (Brown). He needs that offensive line. He needs Saquon (Barkley) and vice versa. The reason Saquon has a special year is not only the offensive line, but the attention that Jalen commands for the run game. Jalen is special and the criticism just blows my mind because I think he's so special and has won so many games and works his butt off and just continues to get better."

Hurts, who played quarterback at Alabama from 2016-2018, is one of 10 former Crimson Tide football players to win ASWA Pro Athlete of the Year. He is joined by Kenny Stabler (1975), Ozzie Newsome (1984), John Hannah (1985), Cornelius Bennett (1988), Shaun Alexander (2001, 2003, 2005), DeMeco Ryans (2006), Julio Jones (2016), Derrick Henry (2019, 2020) and Trevon Diggs (2021).  

Overall, he's only the eighth repeat winner, joining Henry, Cam Newton, Alexander, Tim Hudson, Frank Thomas, Charles Barkley and Bobby Allison.

Hurts’ Super Bowl victory served as redemption for a flood of adversity he faced earlier in his career. After earning SEC Offensive Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2016, he led Alabama to the national championship game before losing to Clemson. He was then benched in the second half of Alabama’s national championship win over Georgia in the 2017 season. Before leading Philadelphia to last season’s Super Bowl title, Hurts and the Eagles suffered a loss to the Chiefs in the 2023 Super Bowl. 

“It's been a very unprecedented journey,” Hurts said after winning the Super Bowl. “The journey, it's always the beginning until it's the end, and I think, it means a lot."

Hurts was selected by Philadelphia with the No. 53 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft after playing his final season at Oklahoma. During his five seasons in the league, he has thrown for 14,667 yards and 85 touchdowns and rushed for 3,133 yards and 55 scores on the ground.

By Tony Tsoukalas, Special to the Alabama Sports Writers Association