The ocean of media members at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans for Super Bowl Opening Night swelled around the podium of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts as he sat for one hour fielding questions on Monday.
Some asked him about the Kansas City Chiefs defense and the importance of establishing the running game in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday.
Others wanted to know Hurts' favorite Bible verse (John 13:7), his top cereal (Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks as a child) and how many Krabby Patties he could eat (one).
But for those seeking to discover the secret of the former Alabama standout’s success as he approaches his second Super Bowl start in his fourth season as an NFL QB 1, the bottom-line answer might have been: his parents.
“I think it’s just the determination, the will to work, the will to win,” Hurts said. “It’s something that’s been a constant throughout my journey, and I think that’s something my parents instilled into me. When I put my eyes on something, I’m not stopping until I get it. It takes great perseverance, it takes a mentality and it takes a person who has high values and high character. But all of it has to come together.
“And so I’ve been able to learn from all my experiences. Being a coach’s kid, watching that whole experience from a child’s point of view and then growing into a teen and growing into a young man, going to Alabama and being at the University of Alabama and just the whole transition to where I am now, I’ve learned so much, I’ve experienced so much, and I always try to take away as much as I can so I can grow. It’s all about growing.”
Hurts was raised by his parents, Pamela and Averion Hurts, a pair of educators, in Channelview, Texas.
“They rooted me to work, to persevere, to have integrity and to be dedicated,” Hurts said. “Those are all characteristics that they’ve always displayed, and it’s been easy to follow them in their footsteps in that regard, so very blessed for them – both of them – and, obviously, very blessed to have this opportunity again.”
Hurts was coached by his father when he played on the Channelview High School football team.
“It’s underrated the role a father can play in your life,” Hurts said on Monday night. “My father always told me I was different. My father always told me I had this ‘it’ factor. And he coaches so many kids and virtually raised so many kids being a head football coach in Houston, he’d seen it, and he always told me, ‘I don’t know what it is, as they say, but you got it.’
“But he never let it get to my head. He encouraged me and he forced me to work, to put the extra work in, to put the extra time in and just having that mentality. And so I say that from the standpoint that the parents I have, the father I have, the mother I have, they instilled that into me, and they made me believe it.”
A standard question for players enduring Super Bowl Opening Night is: Who is your hero?
“I have a ton of heroes,” Hurts said, “and it starts with my parents.”
Hurts said his parents were his heroes because of “the things that they’ve been able to instill in me. I’m fortunate to have had the childhood that I had to have these opportunities, to have these moments. It’s been a long journey, a long journey of mentorship, a long journey of learning, and you get to that point where you’re kind of – you’re a boy and you become a man and you’re kind of on your own, and I think my parents have done a great job of that.”
