Steve Sarkisian tried to help Jalen Hurts win a CFP national championship at Alabama. That didn’t quite work out, so the current Texas coach was excited to see the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback come out on top in Super Bowl LIX.
“What Jalen’s been able to do in the NFL,” Sarkisian said during an appearance on FanDuelTV’s “Up and Adams,” “and watch his game grow and evolve as a leader and as a playmaker. Not only with his legs, but he used his arm huge in that game. But his legs showed up. Those scrambles were huge for, I think, over 70 yards rushing. Highly competitive guy.
“His dad’s still coaching high school football in Houston, so it’s pretty neat to see those guys evolve throughout their career.”
Sarkisian was working as an offensive analyst for the Crimson Tide when Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin took the job as the head coach of Florida Atlantic in December 2016. The plan was for Kiffin to complete the season with the Tide and Sarkisian to become Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017.
But after the Tide’s 24-7 victory over Washington in the Peach Bowl in a CFP semifinal game on Dec. 31, 2016, Kiffin turned his full attention to FAU, putting Sarkisian in charge of Alabama’s offense for the national-title clash with Clemson on Jan. 9, 2017.
“That was a unique process,” Sarkisian said. “… It was a heck of a journey, so we go way back.”
Hurts won the SEC Offensive Player of the Year Award as a freshman in 2016, but Alabama came up short against Clemson when the Tigers scored a touchdown with one second to play for a 35-31 victory.
In Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, Hurts won the Pete Rozelle Trophy as the game’s most valuable player as Philadelphia defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22.
Hurts wasn’t the only player who Sarkisian had worked with in college who got on the field in Super Bowl LIX.
Sarkisian did not work as Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2017. Instead, he held that post for the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 and 2018. Sarkisian returned to the Crimson Tide as offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020.
In 2020, Alabama won the CFP national championship with an undefeated record, and Tide wide receiver DeVonta Smith won the Heisman Trophy.
Sarkisian became the head coach at Texas in 2021.
In Super Bowl LIX, Smith became the first former Alabama player to catch a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl and Xavier Worthy caught two touchdown passes to become the first former Texas player to score in the Super Bowl.
Smith scored on a 46-yard pass from Hurts for Philadelphia. Worthy had touchdown receptions of 24 and 50 yards for Kansas City.
“It was pretty cool to think the two receivers in that game, both leading receivers – guys who had played for us in our system,” Sarkisian said. “And so kind of a little feather in our cap. It helps in recruiting.”
