OXFORD, Miss. -- Take a moment to remind yourself that this is a kid we’re talking about.

Sure, he’s the son of a football coach. And yeah, he’s a monster in the weight room. But he's still just a true freshman who normally wouldn’t have even stepped off the bus on Saturday in Oxford. Like most rookies, Jalen Hurts should be redshirting right now and not be part of the traveling roster.

But whether it was graduating high school early, whether it was emerging as the star of Alabama's spring game, whether it was the fact that he was even in the quarterback competition, Hurts has shown that his age is just a thing that people like to talk about. A native of Texas, his grit should be the real story.

You see, this is the kid who initially lost the quarterback battle. Hurts, 18, didn’t start in the season opener against USC, and the first snap he took he fumbled and turned the ball over. Only he didn’t implode. He came right back out and kept getting more comfortable with each series. By the time his debut was over, he had completed 6 of 11 passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for two more scores as No. 1 Alabama beat USC, 52-6.

Thanks to 287 yards passing against Western Kentucky the following week, he won the job.

But the next week, he was supposed to struggle. In his first true road test, his inexperience would show.

Jalen Hurts threw for 158 yards and ran for 146 in Alabama's win over Ole Miss. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

In some ways it did. Hurts wasn’t sharp throwing the football and missed a wide-open Hale Hentges in the end zone on Alabama’s first series against Ole Miss. The Tide settled for a field goal, but Hurts didn’t get flustered. He fumbled and Ole Miss turned it into a touchdown, and still he didn’t lose it. He took hit after hit from the defense and kept popping back up. His arm wasn’t working, he sprained his wrist, and instead he became the first quarterback under Nick Saban to rush for more than 100 yards, with 146 on 18 carries. He finished with 304 total yards in the Tide’s 48-43 win over the Rebels.

“He’s tough,” said running back Damien Harris, who finished second to Harris in rushing with 144 yards. “Just because he’s the quarterback ... he’s still extremely tough. That’s something we really respect and admire about him.”

Respect and admiration for a true freshman is rare.

But it’s not just that. In the midst of all the chaos Saturday, it was the kid who looked his teammates in the eye and settled down the huddle. Harris said that Hurts did a good job of keeping them “calm, cool and collected” and has “really turned into a great leader.”

Saban, for his part, didn’t blame the fumble on the Hurts. It was a busted protection, he said.

“We’ve still got to work on the passing a bit,” Saban said. “It’s not that he can’t throw it -- he can throw it. We just have to get him more comfortable reading and making quick decisions and getting the ball out of his hand.”

That will come with time, of course. The kid will learn.

But the thing that Hurts has, the thing makes up for his age and inexperience, is something you can’t teach: grit. The odds have been against him from the beginning, and he keeps confounding expectations. He makes a mistake and settles in. He finds a way to lead Alabama to wins.

He’s a kid, but he’s remarkable in that way.

What's scary for the rest of college football is that he's only going to get better.