Among the younger players who figure to shape the future of Tennessee football, freshman running back Jalen Hurd ranks high on the list. And Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, whose defense will try to stop Hurd Saturday, made a compelling comparison Thursday between Hurd and one of the NFL's top running backs.
"He's just a complete running back. Just physically if you look at him, he reminds me of Adrian Peterson a little bit," Stoops said, per The Courier-Journal of Louisville. "Just that big, tall, good-looking running back. Very dynamic player. He's going to be a heck of a player."
Like Peterson, Hurd (6-foot-3, 227 pounds) runs with a more upright style and fends off more than his share of tackles. He enters the Kentucky game coming off a season-high 125 yards against South Carolina. Though he's rushed for just 598 yards this season, he's managed to average 4.5 yards per carry behind an offensive line that had to be completely retooled in the offseason.
Hurd has responded, as well, with his best performances in some of Tennessee's toughest road games. While the South Carolina game has been UT's biggest victory of the season thus far, he also ran for 119 yards at Georgia and 97 yards on just 14 carries at Oklahoma.
"They do a nice job of trying to get him the ball in space in a lot of different ways," Stoops said. "He looks like he has very good top-end speed and he has that way with some big backs to just be very elusive. Maybe doesn't look as flashy as the little guys sometimes, but he's always running away from people, running through people. He's a very good player."
Hurd leads the team in rushing and with backup Marlin Lane being a senior, Hurd figures to be a central figure in the Vols' rushing attack for years to come.
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