In two seasons as a head coach, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley has turned two transfer quarterbacks into Heisman Trophy winners.
As it turned out, that was a pretty good sales pitch with Alabama graduate transfer Jalen Hurts picking the Sooners on Wednesday for his final college season.
Hurts, who immediately became the likely frontrunner to take the first snap against Houston in the 2019 season opener, knows something about pressure and expectations. In three seasons at Alabama, Hurts learned that a 26-2 record and two trips to the College Football Playoff title game as a starting quarterback weren’t good enough to keep the job.