After growing up in the Nashville area, Jalen Hurd’s made no secret that former Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George is his hero on the field. The College Football Hall of Famer and potential NFL Hall of Fame back rushed 2865 times in his career for 10,441 yards and 68 touchdowns.
Hurd grew up admiring him as a player and modeled his game after him – particularly because he could see some of himself in George, who was one of the bigger backs in the NFL in his era at 6-foot-3, 235 pounds.
So it was quite a thrill for Hurd to see George’s tweet after he ran for 97 yards against Oklahoma on Saturday night on national televison.
Jalen Hurd @Vol_Football will be a SuperStar!!! #beast
— Eddie George (@EddieGeorge2727) September 14, 2014
“I saw that on Twitter when I got on the bus – that’s amazing,” Hurd said. “That’s my biggest idol right there. That man right there can run the ball. That just makes me very happy and just encouraged. … He was a big guy and he played for a long time and he could run that ball. He had speed – he had everything – he was an everything back.”
Nobody is pretending that Hurd has arrived at George’s status yet, but he’s shown glimpses through his first three games, taking the majority of the team’s carries thus far and breaking out for two long runs in the second half against the Sooners on Saturday.
