Jalen Hurts misplaced his quarterback spot underneath the glare of school soccer's brightest highlight after main the College of Alabama to 2 nationwide championship video games. Nevertheless, his religion in Christ helped him deal with it with grace and sophistication.
Patrick Mahomes, in the meantime, is already garnering comparisons to not too long ago retired soccer nice Tom Brady regardless of enjoying simply six seasons within the Nationwide Soccer League. His Christian religion retains him grounded.
The fourth seed will face off in Tremendous Bowl LVII on Sunday at 6:30pm EST. Hurts will lead the Philadelphia Eagles and Mahomes is the quarterback for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.
“Earlier than each sport, I stroll across the discipline and I simply pray on the purpose,” Mahomes, 27, stated right now in a 2020 Fellowship of Christian Athletes video. “And I thank God for these alternatives and I thank God for letting me be on that stage the place I can rejoice. And I really feel like the largest factor I pray for is that it doesn’t matter what occurs, win or lose, that I’ll glorify Him and do all the things as He desires.
Hurts expressed comparable sentiments to CBS Sports activities earlier this season.
“I simply matured and realized that God is all the things and deserves the reward,” Hurts, 24, stated. “It’s important to put him on the heart of all the things you do.
Sunday's sport would be the first Tremendous Bowl to characteristic two groups with beginning quarterbacks who’re black.
Hurts led the College of Alabama to the soccer nationwide championship following the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Nevertheless, throughout the second sport, Hurts struggled towards Southeastern Convention rival Georgia.
With the Crimson Tide trailing 13-0 at halftime, coach Nick Saban benched him in favor of Tua Tagovailoa, now the beginning quarterback for the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Tagovailoa, additionally a Christian, rallied the Crimson Tide to a 26-23 additional time victory, then gained the beginning job over Hurts the next season.
Hurts remained at Alabama regardless of being relegated to the backup place. He did nice in one of many Crimson Tide's largest video games. After Tagovailoa went down with an harm within the 2018 SEC Championship, Hurts entered the sport and led two straight Alabama landing drives and scored the game-winning discipline purpose with 1 minute, 4 seconds left to provide Alabama the convention title.
Hurts transferred to the College of Oklahoma for his senior season, gained the beginning job there and led the Sooners to a berth within the School Soccer Playoff after the 2019 season. His stats at Oklahoma — 3,851 yards and 32 passing touchdowns, 1,298 yards and 20 dashing touchdowns — led the Eagles to pick out him within the second spherical of the 2020 NFL Draft.
He went 4-11-1 throughout his rookie season in Philadelphia, a metropolis notoriously tough on struggling quarterbacks. Nevertheless, identical to throughout his time at Alabama, Hurts held on to a Bible verse that continued to convey him consolation.
“My favourite verse — you recognize, I went by quite a bit in faculty and it form of caught with me — John 13:7: 'It’s possible you’ll not know now, however later you’ll,'” Hurts stated after Philadelphia's NFC victory over the San Francisco 49ers, in by which he handed sophomore Christian quarterback Brock Purdy. “I hope folks perceive that.
Mahomes, in the meantime, led the Chiefs to a few Tremendous Bowls in his first 5 seasons as a starter. Just one different quarterback in NFL historical past — Brady — has achieved that. Mahomes suffered a excessive ankle sprain in Kansas Metropolis's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars within the second spherical of this 12 months's playoffs.
Regardless of the harm, he performed all the AFC Championship sport towards the Cincinnati Bengals, making the Chiefs' 23-20 victory all of the extra spectacular.
That's not dangerous for somebody who nearly give up soccer as a highschool junior as a result of he felt he couldn't play quarterback. His religion performed a task in his resolution to not give up: His mom, Randi Martin, inspired him to wish about it.
“Religion is large for me,” Mahomes stated in his 2020 video for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “God can have me and all the time settle for me.”