Jalen Hurts' teammates are asked about him outside of just interviews with the media.

People close to them have gone from being curious about the Alabama quarterback competition to wanting to know about Hurts and his future with the Crimson Tide.

It seems like people inside the Alabama building still aren't sure about Hurts' thoughts on redshirting and whether that will end up happening. But players have consistently said the same thing about Hurts whenever he comes up, that they see him going about business as usual behind the scenes and that they very much respect how he's handling a difficult situation.

"He's a hard worker. He's a competitor. And he never complains," wide receiver Henry Ruggs said of Hurts. "He goes out and does what he has to do. Keeps a great spirit, and we work hard when we're together."

The hope for Nick Saban remains the same, that Hurts will be fine with playing in more than four games and sacrificing the year of eligibility in order for Alabama to have him as Tua Tagovailoa's backup and as someone that can potentially be used as a situational weapon.

It's all still TBD. And it's unclear if -- or how much -- coaches plan to use Hurts against Ole Miss on Saturday.

But to this point, the word is that Hurts has been his normal self behind the scenes while continuing to grow as a quarterback with help from new Tide QB coach Dan Enos.

"Jalen's a great teammate and I think he's handled everything great, whatever the coaches decide to throw at him and however it ends up playing out," Alabama left tackle Jonah Williams said. "So I think his leadership and his example of being a great teammate has been really great for us as a unit."

During the Tide's win over Arkansas State on Saturday, Hurts was Alabama's quarterback for four possessions -- three during the first half and one that began late in the third quarter. Three of those drives produced touchdowns.

The only negative for Hurts was a fumble near the goal line at the end of his first possession, a product of a hard hit while trying to get into the end zone. But Hurts bounced back with a nice 10-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Irv Smith on the next drive. He then threw another touchdown a minute later, a 7-yard strike to Jerry Jeudy over the middle that was perfectly on point despite Hurts getting hit as he was getting rid of the ball.

Hurts finished 7 of 9 for 93 yards with the two touchdown passes and no interceptions while also running for 32 yards on five carries.

It was a great overall showing.

While it surely wasn't easy being a backup for the first time in a game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, teammates respected Hurts' handling of the day. And the feeling inside the locker room is that Hurts has handled this whole process -- the competition, losing his job and all of the speculation about his future -- much better than people outside the program probably realize.

"(His handling of everything) shows that he's a great person," Ruggs said. "Like I said, he stays positive, never complains. He comes out and works hard, and we're behind him 100 percent."