The moment Jalen Hurts seemingly was first written off as an NFL quarterback prospect was when the former Alabama QB overthrew Calvin Ridley in the first quarter of the national title game against Georgia during the 2017 college football season.

An easy throw. Pitch and catch. Hurts airmailed it.

View photos We saw too much of this from Jalen Hurts at Alabama. More

If Hurts could not complete a wide-open fade against a corner who fell down, the thinking went, well, that wasn’t going to cut it at the next level. That seemed to be backed by Alabama coach Nick Saban benching his former SEC Player of the Year whom he didn’t believe was the right man to rally the team — read: throw their way back — from a 13-0 halftime deficit.

Saban went to Tua Tagovailoa, who dropped back 26 times in the second half and overtime (Hurts attempted only eight passes in the first half) and led the Crimson Tide to a thrilling 26-23 win. Bama had a future top draft pick at QB locked in for at least the next two seasons. Hurts’ future seemed to be cast in stone: He was then branded a gifted run-first college quarterback who might as well switch positions in the NFL.

“So much about quarterback is processing,” one longtime NFL evaluator. “You saw him holding onto the ball, second-guessing, unsure of himself. ... It just left you to think that might not ever change.”

Everything has changed since then. Hurts stuck around at Alabama last season as Tagovailoa’s backup, and his final parting gift to the school was a heroic relief appearance for a banged-up Tagovailoa in the SEC title game. It was incredible poetry, leading a comeback against that same Georgia program he was benched against in that same Mercedes-Benz Stadium — a dramatic 35-28 victory that sent Bama to the College Football Playoff.

After the Crimson Tide lost the national title to Clemson, Bama fans knew they had to let go of the one they loved. Hurts was the first teammate to congratulate Tagovailoa after the 2017 championship and was the best soldier the teammates ever could have hoped for the next season, earning a spot in Bama fans’ hearts for his selflessness and leadership.

But Hurts had unfinished business elsewhere: He had committed to Oklahoma to complete his graduate degree in NFL quarterbacking 101. And now he stands as the NCAA’s current leader in passing efficiency. The move appears to be paying off quite well.

Stacking up well vs. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray

There might be no better NFL quarterback incubation tank right now than at Oklahoma with head coach Lincoln Riley. Developing his innovative spinoff of the Air Raid offense and preparing the NFL’s past two No. 1 overall draft selections — Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray — has amplified talk that Riley could be an NFL head coach. If he keeps developing Hurts the way it appears he has, Riley might start getting blank checks in the mail.

If the former walk-on Mayfield and the diminutive Murray could become paradigm breakers as NFL prospects, why can’t Hurts do the same? Through five games this season at Oklahoma, Hurts’ production has matched — and even surpassed — his predecessors through the same points of their Heisman Trophy-winning seasons.

View photos Jalen Hurts has even surpassed his two predecessors statistically through his first five games. (Paul Rosales/Yahoo Sports) More

Three of Hurts’ four best passing yards games in his college career have come this season, including a career-high 415 yards on only 17 completions vs. Texas Tech. For good measure last week, he even hauled in a 21-yard catch on a trick play. It’s no wonder then that he has been ahead of the pack in Yahoo Sports’ Heisman Trophy watch the past few weeks, ahead of his former teammate, Tagovailoa.

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