What If Wednesday: Jalen Hurd Stayed at Tennessee

The University of Tennessee has had plenty of big moments across all of the sports in town; however, there have been some big what-if moments, which have led to fans questioning what things could have been if they played out in a different way.

This leads us, Vols On SI, to do a weekly series every Wednesday, called "What If Wednesday". While there will be many things to discuss, the first thing that will be discussed in this series is Jalen Hurd. That question is "What if Jalen Hurd stayed at Tennessee?"

The Jalen Hurd and Tennessee Timeline

Hurd, a former five-star running back, made his way to Tennessee. He started his career in 2014, after finishing his high school career in 2013. In 2014, the talented running back showed his ability to dominate in the rushing attack, finishing with a total of 899 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. He would also make a name for himself in the receiving game, finishing with over 200 yards and two touchdowns in the category as a freshman.

This led to high expectations for his upcoming season, which was the 2015 season. In the 2015 season, Hurd finished with his best college career in the rushing category, which would later be named as one of the more dominant rushing performances in Tennessee history. In fact, he finished with 12 touchdowns and 1,288 rushing yards in 2015, which could have been much more, but this was Alvin Kamara's first season with the team. Kamara finished just short of 700 rushing yards, meaning that the rushing duo was arguably the best Tennessee has seen in a long time.

Hurd nearly finished with 200 receiving yards on the year, but with Kamara in town, the former Alabama running back would be the pass catcher out of the backfield.

Hurd and Kamara would both return to Tennessee in 2016, leaving the expectations high yet again.

Unfortunately, Hurd would enter his name into the transfer portal after performing in his first seven games of the season.

Jalen Hurd Joined Baylor, But Not as What You Think

The former SEC running back would transition to wide receiver and join the Baylor Bears. This would forfeit his 2017 campaign due to old transfer portal rules, and he would play in just one season with the Bears.

That season was 2018. In this season, Hurd finished with almost 1,000 receiving yards, and he also finished with four receiving touchdowns. As expected, playing receiver, Hurd didn't receive many touches running the ball, as he finished with 209 rushing yards, along with three touchdowns on 48 attempts.

Jalen Hurd's NFL Career

Unfortunately for Hurd, he never found his footing in the NFL. In fact, he never recorded a single rush or catch in a regular season game, which ultimately landed him out of the league quicker than usual.

He spent time on multiple teams, as he played with the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots. He retired from football in 2023 after he suffered multiple season-ending injuries and other injuries to pair with them. This means that the former Vols running back was looking out for his health, which is something that he is probably glad he did back in 2023.

What If Jalen Hurd Stayed at Tennessee?

Hurd currently stands as the No. 6 running back in rushing yards, which was done in just two and a half seasons. He finished his career with 2,638 rushing yards, which means that he falls just below some of the all-time greats, including Travis Henry, Arian Foster, James Stewart, Johnnie Jones, and Jamal Lewis.

This simply means that one could argue that Jalen Hurd is one of the more efficient running backs in Tennessee's history.

If he had stayed one more season, he would have been the program's rushing leader, even to this day. However, many have stated that he wanted a change in his game tasks, which is why many believed he made the switch to wide receiver. While some can blame Hurd for just up and leaving, many reports have indicated that Hurd gave the staff plenty of chances.

“I wasn’t afraid to ask for what I wanted, but I never once demanded it or acted disrespectful to coach Jones about it,” Hurd said. “He would say, ‘I’ve got you,’ but then it would be the same old thing. Just tell me things aren’t going to change and I might have transferred sooner (and) there wouldn’t have been any hard feelings. All I ever wanted was to be told straight," RockyTopInsider reported Hurd told them.

Hurd remains one of the greatest running backs in Tennessee history. To think that we could be sitting here and discussing Hurd as the best back in Tennessee football's history makes the situation much more gut-wrenching.

As for what would have happened with the Vols, they likely would have been back to using Hurd as the lone back, considering Kamara would go on to the draft. Tennessee also would have likely finished with a better record than 4-8, which ultimately got Butch Jones fired, and later led to the addition of Jeremy Pruitt, who later turned to Josh Heupel, who coaches the Vols now.

Following Hurd's transfer, the next few years would be some of the worst that Tennessee had experienced in recent memory, giving many fans little hope. Just think what could have been if the coaches and Hurd were on the same page, and Hurd returned for one more season with the Vols, rather than transferring to be with the Baylor Bears.

In the end, Hurd's name will be in the history books, for what seems to be quite some time, as he remains well within the top 10 in rushing yards.

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