Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are set to square off for a second time in the Super Bowl later this month, two quarterbacks who are dominating the NFL in the prime of their careers. And with both in the national spotlight, the college GPAs for Mahomes and Hurts have surfaced this week and let’s just say both skewered the competition in the classroom as well.
Mahomes reportedly held a 3.91 GPA at Texas Tech according to his mother, while Hurts was named a ‘Sooner Scholar’ as a senior at Oklahoma with a 3.4 GPA. Hurts finished his undergraduate degree previously in three years at Alabama before earning a graduate degree at Oklahoma. With the Crimson Tide, Hurts was the recipient of the 2018 Commitment to Academic Excellence Award, given to a player who had demonstrated the greatest commitment and achievement in his academic endeavors during the previous year.
Hurts’ performance in the classroom isn’t his only strength. During his college career at Alabama and Oklahoma, Hurts was also one of the strongest players in those respective programs. The former Heisman finalist turned heads when he arrived with the Sooners after squatting 600 pounds.
Hurts has always taken a serious approach when it comes to weight training, one of the reasons he became an instant factor in the SEC as the league’s freshman of the year in 2016 after showcasing an ability to absorb and break free of would-be tacklers. Hurts’ impressive display of raw strength didn’t come as a surprise after he squatted 585 pounds the previous spring at Alabama as a junior Hurts, who was a power lifter in high school and once squatted 570 pounds as a junior in Channelview, Texas, improved his strength under former Crimson Tide weight training phenom Scott Cochran and arried his prowess on the bar to Oklahoma.
Per CBS Sports, Hurts is one of eight quarterbacks to play in two Super Bowls in his first five seasons. All of the quarterbacks are in the Hall of Fame or will be in the Hall of Fame — Mahomes, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Kurt Warner, Troy Aikman and John Elway.
Philadelphia struggled out of the gate this season before becoming one of the NFC’s most-feared teams. Under the direction of Hurts, the Eagles won 13 straight in games which he has started and finished the game.
“That’s the nature of it. Don’t get lost in the nature of what a team sport is,” Hurts said on his team’s surprising start. “It takes a team to go out there and have success. It’s looked a ton of different ways but any team that has success looks a ton of different ways. Just put our focus on winning.”
Hurts set a slew of records during his tenures at both Alabama and Oklahoma. Hurts concluded his college career with 9,477 passing yards, 80 passing touchdowns in addition to 3,274 rushing yards and 43 touchdowns. He finished second in the 2019 Heisman Trophy voting behind Joe Burrow and won a national title at Alabama.
