Nick Saban continues to be encouraged by the development of freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. The Alabama coach said Wednesday that Hurts played "his best and most complete game" in a 51-3 victory over Mississippi State last weekend.

Against the Bulldogs, Hurts produced 447 yards of total offense -- 347 of which came through the air.

He also completed 76 percent of his pass attempts and entered his name in the school's record books.

It was an impressive stat line, but it was also misleading. As ESPN illustrated, 289 of those yards credited to Hurts were accumulated by receivers after they caught the ball. And only 12 of Hurts' 38 passes traveled more than nine yards in the air, according to Pro Football Focus.

Even so, throughout the game, Hurts showed good judgment -- assessing his options and avoiding risky passes while dropping back 45 times Saturday. The one exception was the only interception he threw in the first quarter that Saban said was the result of a miscommunication between Hurts and receiver ArDarius Stewart.

Saban didn't seem overly concerned by the mistake and on Wednesday praised Hurts for seeing the field and reading the defense.

"He is getting better and better and better at it," Saban said. "I think it was a good indication, the way he played in the last game, the progress that he's made. We have to trust in the quarterback, that we can get the ball to our skill guys and he's going to get it to them effectively in the right places and the right time so that we can make explosive plays down the field. So I think we're making progress in that area but we're continuing to work on it every day."

Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has helped Hurts' growth in that area by placing him in advantageous situations. On Saturday, 36 of Hurts' 37 passes were delivered from Shotgun or Pistol. It's no surprise that they were, considering that Hurts has a wider vantage point when taking the snap from several yards away from the line of scrimmage and is better able to read the defensive coverages from that position.

"We're just trying to make it more comfortable for him and really just instill his confidence more and more," said tight end Hale Hentges. "Just really broadening his horizons so we can become a more complete team and a more complete offense."

It's part of an ongoing process that Kiffin and Saban initiated upon elevating Hurts to the starting job at the outset of the season. Saban acknowledged last month that Hurts had yet to master the offense then and also explained how Kiffin streamlined the scope of his progressions.

"What we're talking about, basically, is you have a play call, you have a pattern that develops, and the guy has to read, sometimes whether the middle of the field open, whether the middle of the field is closed, as to which side he's going to throw the ball to," he said. "So that's one of the things that we think about. Other times you're just trying to limit the side of the field he's going to throw the ball to, he's reading some kind of a high-low, which is a little bit easier for him to do."

Still, Hurts has missed open receivers.

In one of the few instances when Hurts was under center Saturday, he failed to see an unguarded Calvin Ridley after initiating a play-action maneuver in the first quarter. Instead of unleashing the ball, Hurts tucked it and ran for a nine-yard gain. It was one of seven dropbacks during which he faced pressure.

Later, in the second quarter, he took the same course of action when he received the ball from under center. After rolling out, he scanned his options briefly before pulling the ball down and zipping four yards to the end zone for his only rushing touchdown Saturday.

In the past, Saban has fretted about athletic quarterbacks like Hurts relying too heavily on their physical gifts, saying earlier this month "it's a little more difficult for them to get the mindset that they want to be a complete player because they know they have the ability to take off."

But he seems pleased with how the freshman has developed up until this point.

"Jalen has progressed very nicely," Saban said. "Hopefully we can build on that."