After Jalen Hurts committed to Alabama as a 16-year-old in the summer of 2015, he got to work on recruiting one of the top high school receivers in the country: A.J. Brown.
Brown ultimately decided to attend Ole Miss instead, but Hurts always wanted to play with Brown and was thrilled when the Eagles traded for him last offseason. At the Super Bowl this week, Hurts reflected on what it has meant to him to have Brown as a teammate this year.
“I always reflect on how cool it is to play with guys you’ve known for a very long time,” Hurts said. “Talking with A.J. specifically, our whole back story and background, with me trying to get him to come to Alabama, it didn’t work out the first time but it worked out this time and we’ve been enjoying it. We’ve hit the ground running and it was something we wanted to do for a long time.”
Hurts said it means a lot to him that he has many teammates on the Eagles he considers lifelong friends.
“Birds of a feather flock together, and those are guys I call true friends, not only because of the men they are, the friends they are, the competitors they are, what drives them, what motivates them to be great,” Hurts said. “No one is independent in this thing, we’re all dependent on each other so we challenge each other and push each other.”