The hour-long infomercial for Alabama football, otherwise known as "Training Days: Rolling with the Tide" accomplishes its mission by offering a glimpse inside the top college program without revealing too much.

Spend an hour watching Episode 2, which aired Wednesday night, and it's easy to come away with the comforting feeling that everything is tracking according to script. Yes, it's hot in August in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban is demanding, Tosh Lupoi is loud and the players make up one big, happy family.

That even includes Jalen Hurts, who subtly emerges as the main character in the second part of this short series.

The junior quarterback, whose starting role has been threatened by sophomore Tua Tagovailoa, repeatedly makes cameos during the 60-minute block. He's seen cheering safety Deionte Thompson's graduation inside a locker room.

The cameras also capture Josh Casher serenading Hurts on his 20th birthday and teammates playfully dunking him in a tub of ice water later that afternoon as part of a celebratory ritual. Hurts also gives an enthusiastic reaction following Kobe Bryant's speech to the team, shouting into a lens, "Mamba Mentality!"

The subtext of all these moments seems obvious: Hurts is still very much a part of the team and is a happy, go-lucky member of the Crimson Tide fraternity. It was Alabama's attempt at whitewashing the controversial comments Hurts made earlier this month at the Tide's media day, when he expressed frustration with his situation and then had the temerity to call out Saban for a communication breakdown the quarterback claims extended from spring to summer.

The only time the fallout from Hurts' remarks is addressed in the show is when Saban answers a question in a news conference that most Alabama fans saw or read about last week.

With unusual serenity, Saban says, "Every player has a right to express what he feels and what he thinks, and I think he has every right to do that with every coach or anybody in the organization who he has relationships with, which we certainly do quite often with all players at all positions."

What Saban said behind closed doors about the matter is unclear because it didn't -- unsurprisingly -- make it to air.

Yet over the course of this episode, Saban is talking to Hurts in another, more indirect way. Perhaps unbeknownst to Bryant, the former Lakers basketball star becomes a convenient conduit for the Alabama coach's message.

Bryant himself tells a rapt audience of players how he tried to "edit" his life before each season and confesses to Saban in a private setting why he needed to block out noise from others in his social circles who were trying to tell him he deserved more than what he already had. In light of the comments Hurts' father made about his son potentially becoming the biggest free agent in the sport's history if he were to transfer, Bryant's words of wisdom were rather interesting, pertinent and perhaps even pointed.

Later on, Saban preaches about the importance of competing in practice and how it was essential that the team guard against complacency and arrogance. He then noted that the best players -- including Bryant -- never cry, "Poor me."

In that scene, Saban addressed everyone in his presence.

But a more intuitive person may have picked up on the fact his speech was directed at Hurts -- a prominent player who is trying to come to grips with the fact he went from a starter with a 26-2 record to simply another guy fighting for a job.

Earlier this month -- as the quarterback competition returned to the front burner -- Hurts volleyed complaints about the lack of interaction with Saban and the coaches over the last few months.

"No one asked me what was on my mind," Hurts said to reporters. "No one asked me how I felt about the things that were going on."

Maybe that's because Saban and his assistants were trying to tell him how he should think. That certainly seemed to be the case throughout this episode, as both image and sound conspired together to remind Hurts he is still a valued member of the Tide while making it abundantly clear he would have to continue to push for what he wants.

The question is whether Hurts received a message that wasn't so obvious to the casual observer.

Rainer Sabin is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @RainerSabin