Inside Jalen Hurts’ Houston legend: Family, football, food, and fantastic finishes

HOUSTON — Averion Hurts Jr. still gets goose bumps.

As he stands under the lights of a rain-soaked high school football field on Tuesday, a train whizzing by disrupts him as he recounts the eight-year-old story of his kid brother Jalen doing something that seemed impossible.

Once the raucous sound subsides, the story that still elicits chills continues: He’s back in his dorm room at Kilgore College, listening to a radio broadcast of his dad and brother’s game against local powerhouse North Shore, clinging to every word. His brother tosses a deep touchdown pass in the waning seconds, becoming the first quarterback in Channelview High School history to beat the crosstown rival.

“I felt like I was there,” Averion Jr. told The Inquirer. “I’m getting the chills just thinking about it now.”

Houston is where Jalen Hurts, nicknamed “J Bug” as a kid, was shaped. It is where he first defied the limits put on him even from those who knew him well, by way of obsessively working to improve. On Thursday, the city that forged him will welcome the Eagles quarterback for the first time in his professional career as his team plays the Texans at NRG Stadium.

When he and Averion Jr. visited the stadium formerly known as Reliant as kids, it was hard to imagine Hurts would one day return as a starting quarterback in the NFL and an MVP candidate. But then again, there was a time when Hurts’ last-second touchdown pass against the North Shore Mustangs seemed inconceivable as well.

“That was the moment that I knew,” Averion Jr. said. “This cat is for real.”

Every once in a while, Jalen Hurts will get a shipment of live crawfish to the Philadelphia area.

The deliveries from somewhere near the Gulf are a way for Hurts to bring a piece of East Houston to his new home. Outside of family, food may be the biggest source of nostalgia Jalen has for his hometown: the Popeye’s on Sheldon Road that he’d go to every Tuesday after practice and the Wingstop on Wallisville after games. The chitlins, pig feet, gumbo, and collard greens that his relatives made.

None reign over the crawfish. The recipe has been passed down two generations from his grandfather, and the Hurts family has become renowned for its cookouts with the crustacean as the main course.

“It’s in us. That’s a Hurts thing, I feel like: Eating crawfish and hanging out.”

“It’s just kind of been this tree,” Jalen said. “As a kid, I loved eating crawfish. My dad trained me early, 5 years old, I had to help him in the process of cooking it. I ended up learning how to do it myself. By the time I was in middle school, I was cooking it on my own for the family and different cookouts.”

Those who have tried both Jalen’s and Averion Sr.’s crawfish mostly agree there are subtle differences between the two. Jalen’s early attempts at making it were a good deal spicier than his dad’s.

No one is exactly comfortable choosing one cook over the other, though.

“Ima plead the fifth on that one,” Averion Jr. said. “I don’t want to start any in-home wars.”

Jalen’s culinary time offers a glimpse of his lighter side. Even those closest to him describe him as “stoic” most often, but cookouts are when he can flash some personality.

There’s also convenience in one of the few hobbies he has outside of football: Cookouts keep him at home and out of restaurants or in public, where outside noise can sometimes creep in. Instead, his close friend and former teammate Trey Tutt says Jalen puts on some classic R&B and makes the food that reminds him most of home.

“You ask anybody on the east side of Houston, they know that’s what we do.”

“He’s a big old-school cat,” Tutt said. “He’s singing his favorite old-school jams and making his crawfish. That’s a time when you’ll see him with his guard down.”

The music selection typically ranges from Frankie Beverly and Al Green to Johnnie Taylor and the Isley Brothers.

“It’s just a vibe,” Jalen said. “Set the mood for the people you’re around and just enjoy that time. Especially going back now. I remember my dad would always play his music and we just chilled outside.

“It’s in us. That’s a Hurts thing, I feel like: Eating crawfish and hanging out. You ask anybody on the east side of Houston, they know that’s what we do.”

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There’s a silver Ford pickup truck parked right outside the doors of Channelview’s field house with a noticeably specific arrangement of logos on the back window.

An Alabama decal sits in the top right corner and an Oklahoma sticker on the opposite side. Each is somewhat symbolically flanked by an Eagles emblem neatly situated on either end of the truck’s rear brake light.

The juxtaposition continues once you walk through the double doors into the field house. Along the left wall are displays of noteworthy individuals who once played at the school. Halfway down the collection of photos and trophies, three helmets make up the top shelf and effectively tell the story of Jalen’s path to stardom: Two crimson helmets eventually giving way to the midnight green so many in the town have recently adopted.

Opposite the wall of photos, jerseys, and hardware, Averion Hurts Sr. sits in his office with his pickup in eyeshot and his son’s Eagles jersey proudly displayed on the back wall.

“There’s the head man,” said DJ McNorton, a former Channelview standout and current assistant coach as he walks by Averion Sr.’s office.

Like Jalen, Averion Sr. has a tendency to elude the spotlight that has come from his son’s storied career on a national stage. The longtime football coach declined to publicly comment, saying he’d rather Jalen and Channelview assistant coaches like McNorton get the “shine” leading up to his son’s homecoming.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without those guys... those are the guys that I looked up to.”

Their shared aversion of feeding into the outside noise is far from the only similarity between the two men. There’s a similarity between them that is instantly noticeable. It is in the way they both talk, the way they have each coined phrases like “keep the main thing the main thing,” and how they harp on the importance of staying hyper-focused on the task at hand.

McNorton played with Averion Jr. and first met Jalen when he was a ball boy for his older brother’s team. Along with star athlete Jackie Hinton and Averion Jr., McNorton was one of Jalen’s early idols as a kid.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without those guys,” Jalen said over the summer. “Those are my No. 1 supporters back home because those are the guys that I looked up to. I’ve said it before, I used to spat my ankles because I saw those guys spatting their ankles.”

After playing for Averion Sr. and playing college ball at North Dakota State, McNorton returned to the Channelview sidelines by the time Jalen was in high school. He’s spent this year as the pass-game coordinator and wide receivers coach.

“He has the exact same demeanor that you see with Jalen,” McNorton said. “That exact same demeanor. Jalen gets it from him. He has that. It may come across as intimidating — I know he can be intimidating when he needs to be — but he’s always been great for me. Mentor, coach, all those things.”

Being identically wired didn’t always result in harmony for the father-son duo, but the main thing was always behind Averion Sr. pushing his son to be “the best version of himself.”

“At heart, we are the same man. I’m definitely the spitting image of him.”

“I feel like he has so much love for me, he wanted me to do it right,” Jalen said. “So he would get frustrated with me. He wanted me to be the best that I could be, and he was passionate about it. I think we’re definitely wise in very similar ways. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve just experienced things and I’ve been able to see things differently.

“At heart, we are the same man,” Jalen added. “I’m definitely the spitting image of him.”

Some of the foundational elements of Jalen’s personality can be traced back to his dad. The stoic disposition and intense focus that Jalen has become known for in Philadelphia is also present in the Channelview field house.

“That’s his spitting image,” Averion Jr. said, unknowingly echoing his younger brother. “It’s kind of annoying sometimes. He’ll try to be my dad sometimes. I’ll be like, ‘Hold on Jalen, I’m big bro, now. I’m big bro.’ That’s the reason he’s in the position that he’s in. I don’t fault him or hold it against him when he does stuff like that. It’s just him.”

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni lauded Jalen’s ability to stay composed during the ups and downs of a game earlier this season, even pointing to his calm reaction to fans falling out of the stands in Washington as he walked through the tunnel last season.

Former Eagles coach Doug Pederson once told Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury he sometimes had to check Jalen for a pulse during big moments because he takes so much pride in avoiding the ups and downs of games.

“It doesn’t matter if he threw an interception or I’m screaming in his face,” Sirianni said. “The people in Washington fall out of the stands and almost break his leg, he’s pretty unfazed and that’s a great quality to have as a quarterback because he’s going to be unfazed in the first quarter, he’s going to be unfazed in the second quarter, third, fourth.”

Even his older brother couldn’t always see through the stone face.

“Even when things get tough or things aren’t going their way, they’re so calm. Nothing ever seems to bother them.”

“You never know what he’s thinking,” Averion Jr. said. “You never know what he was feeling. Before he was the star football player, he was that way as a kid. It was frustrating at times.”

That demeanor stems from Averion Sr.’s sideline temperament.

“One of the biggest things that I see is both of them have a poise and a confidence about themselves,” Tutt said. “You see it a lot with Jalen on Sundays. You see it with his dad on Friday nights. Even when things get tough or things aren’t going their way, they’re so calm. Nothing ever seems to bother them. They’re always in the same atmosphere. They look the same the entire time.”

Eight years later, people from Channelview are still talking about Jalen Hurts’ signature win.

Roughly 20 miles away from NRG Stadium, Jalen and his teammates pulled off what seemed impossible to some: a 49-48 win over local powerhouse North Shore.

It was the type of game that packed a gargantuan 11,000-seat stadium so far past capacity that some people couldn’t get seats in the bleachers and had to stand along the perimeter.

“Everybody knew who North Shore was and everybody knew who Jalen Hurts was at that time,” McNorton said. “It was an east-side type of showdown so everybody wanted to be there.”

Channelview and North Shore are situated less than five miles apart, but the narrative surrounding each school in 2014 and long before stood in stark contrast. Channelview was the underdog led by a four-star quarterback prospect. The school had never beaten its crosstown rival and was surrounded on multiple sides by powerhouses like Baytown, Beaumont, and Port Arthur — each having a significant grip on the area’s best players.

North Shore was the juggernaut with a handful of Division I prospects and a track record of making it deep into the state playoffs each year. The team went 11-1 the previous season, outscoring opponents by more than 50 points on four occasions. Channelview was one of those unlucky four, getting blown out, 59-0.

The stakes were even higher than that in October 2014.

Growing up in North Shore’s school district but playing for his dad at Channelview, Jalen knew the dynamic as well as anybody. One school was considered the fast track to college football success. The other was considered the lesser.

Jalen watched Averion Sr. and Jr. try twice to make history as the first Channelview team to beat North Shore. They fell short both times, which led to Jalen putting North Shore on the list of teams he needed to beat once it was his turn.

“I wish I could go back to those moments and just enjoy them one more time.”

“I took it personal for me and my family,” Jalen said. “I live in North Shore. I was supposed to go to North Shore high school.”

Down six late in the fourth quarter, Jalen got the Falcons about 40 yards from the goal line with the chance to take one shot at the end zone. On the game’s penultimate play, Jalen rolled to his right to evade pressure and threw a prayer to wide receiver E.T. Giles. The pass bounced off Giles’ hands, past two North Shore defenders, and into the grips of Channelview receiver Bryant Valentine in the back of the end zone. The touchdown tied things at 48. The extra point, with Jalen as the holder, put the 2014 Channelview team into the history books.

“It was a game nobody expected us to win against a team that we aren’t supposed to win against,” Jalen said. “The thing about it was, we believed. ... It was surreal. That’s something that nobody could take away from us.

“I wish I could go back to those moments and just enjoy them one more time.”

Shortly after the final whistle, Jalen found his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Byron Henderson, whose father died a year earlier. The moment he shared with Jalen still resonates with him.

“He just looks at me and goes, ‘Coach, we did it,’” Henderson said. “He embraces me and I just broke down even more. I knew my dad would have been really proud of him, not just us, but him.”

Ask almost anyone who has been around Jalen since then and they’ll say it’s the biggest win of his football career.

Bigger than Alabama’s 2018 SEC championship or the Red River rivalry the following season at Oklahoma. Bigger than the Big 12 title and bigger than any of his 16 wins over three years with the Eagles.

“I’ll tell him to this day. That’s probably the most impressive win that he’s had as a football player.”

Jalen wouldn’t go so far, but he did acknowledge it’s still a conversation piece whenever he’s home.

“I think that’s a game that, when I go home where my roots are, they’re talking about it,” Jalen said. “I think it’s all love now because I’m from the east side of Houston at the end of the day. Anybody from the east side, they show love and respect because I never forget where I come from.”

Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson played for Averion Sr. and has followed Jalen’s career from the beginning.

“I’ll tell him to this day. That’s probably the most impressive win that he’s had as a football player,” Johnson said. “If you’ve ever been to North Shore High School and seen the type of talent and the type of program that they have, they don’t lose very often.”

The school had plenty of thin years before Averion Sr. took over as head coach in 2008. Tutt was on that 2014 team and is a Falcons assistant coach now as well as a teacher in the school district.

The impact of the North Shore win and the program Averion Sr. has built have redefined the narrative on what’s possible for athletes in the district, he says.

“A lot of kids think, just because they go to North Shore and play sports over there, they’ll get that Division I scholarship and have a better chance,” Tutt said. “He basically shows a kid, in my opinion, that it can be done from here. You don’t have to leave Channelview and do it somewhere else. Whatever you want to accomplish, your goals, you can do it right at Channelview.”

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Looking back, Averion Jr. finally understands.

When he and Jalen were kids, he’d sometimes look over at his younger brother in the backyard, perplexed at the football moves he was executing against the local shrubbery.

“Jalen would always play by himself,” Averion Jr. said. “I’d be outside playing basketball and he’d have a football in his hand, trying to juke a tree. Like, ‘What are you doing, dude?’ It makes sense, you don’t question it now. ... I vividly remember him doing that. Running through people’s yards, juking trees, spin-moving, dead-legging. Yeah, that’s Jalen through and through.”

“Running through people’s yards, juking trees, spin-moving, dead-legging. Yeah, that’s Jalen through and through.”

Jalen’s talent was evident early on, but those around him didn’t know he’d reach the level he has until later. It wasn’t until he was midway through high school that most people started realizing he had a chance to be special.

He transferred to Channelview school district in middle school after previously being in North Shore’s district. His first year in the new district, he claimed the starting quarterback job over his friend Tutt on the junior high team. The two laugh about it now, but their relationship started off as contentious.

“I was like, ‘Man, who is this kid? Who is this dude trying to steal my spot?’” Tutt said. “We’d go to practice every day and he’d throw the ball extremely hard to me — of course, he had a great arm at the time. He was bigger than us as well. He’d throw the ball hard at me and we’d kind of just, you know, share words here and there. It’s kind of funny.”

Jalen had the size and athleticism to pique interest as a middle schooler, but still hadn’t elicited dreams of an NFL future at the position quite yet.

Henderson said Jalen was clearly on pace to be a starter on the varsity team eventually, but there was work to be done to get him ready.

“He was athletic,” Henderson said. “He didn’t throw the ball very well; I knew that we’d had some work to do. I knew he was going to be our quarterback one day, though.”

Once Jalen got to high school, Henderson knew that wouldn’t be a problem.

Jalen was playing freshman ball but would pop into the assistant coach’s office to ask Henderson for extra coaching after freshman practice was through. If it wasn’t on-field work, he’d want to watch film.

“This is where he lived. This was his sanctuary. If he was a basketball player, they’d call him a gym rat. I say he’s a field house rat.”

Maybe Jalen was just killing time waiting for his dad to drive him home after the coach was through with his evening responsibilities?

“I told him, ‘I can take you home,’” Henderson said. “Nope. He wanted to be here. This is where he lived. This was his sanctuary. If he was a basketball player, they’d call him a gym rat. I say he’s a field house rat.”

It wasn’t until he saw how much time Jalen was willing to invest that Henderson realized he needed to reevaluate how good the young quarterback could be.

“Going and seeing a game or two in middle school, you only get a brief showing,” Henderson said. “Sitting here, and I’ve been doing this 25 years, watching him and his work ethic is what made me know he was going to be special. It was never his talent in the beginning. It was, ‘This kid works harder than anyone I’ve been around.’”

Johnson, then an assistant at Utah, visited Jalen around his junior year. He knew then that Averion Sr.’s kid was wired enough like his dad to get the most out of his talent.

“You could tell that he had that same demeanor that he has now,” Johnson said. “Very serious. And you could tell he was going to be a really, really good player. Obviously, he was raw still, he was 15 or 16 years old at the time. You could see him as an athlete, him as a person, him as a player, you could tell he was going to be a really good player.”

Averion Sr. and Jr. both have their schedules cleared on Thursday night.

Channelview (7-2) rescheduled its final regular-season game to Friday night because of the occasion. Instead, the school will have a tailgating event at the stadium a few hours before the game.

That’s right, a high school football game in Texas was rescheduled for Jalen’s homecoming.

“I think going back home and playing in Houston has always been a dream of mine.”

Averion Jr., coaching at Summer Creek, had to ask for temporary leave of his typical play-calling duties for freshman games on Thursday night.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” Averion Jr. said. “Just being able to come back to your city where you know that a lot of people are rooting for you and want to see you do well, it’s awesome. Also coming back to the family that’s here, it’s really big for us.”

Jalen and Averion Jr. grew up Texans fans; his godfather Sean Washington led the player development department for the Texans when they were kids and they spent time around Houston’s stadium as a result.

“I think going back home and playing in Houston has always been a dream of mine,” Jalen said Sunday. “I never had the opportunity to go play in Reliant as a kid, now known as NRG. I spent a lot of time in the Houston Texans facility, my godfather being on staff as a child, and I have a lot of memories at that place, so it’ll be exciting.”

“Houston is just in him... From the way he talks, the way he dresses. All of it. He’s definitely Houston, man.”

When he enters NRG Stadium, Jalen will be representing his “new home” in Philadelphia. After wearing a Houston Astros hat and jacket during a video news conference in 2020, Jalen said last week that he’s rooting for the Phillies in the World Series.

Still, he’ll carry a piece of Houston with him, intentional or not.

“Houston is just in him,” McNorton said. “He’s Houston all the way, through and through. From the way he talks, the way he dresses. All of it. He’s definitely Houston, man.”

Jalen added, “It’s my music, swag, slang, it’s in the soul, too. Special people come from Texas, and special people come from Houston. It’s a different pride in being from the city of Houston. I definitely hold a lot of pride in being from that place, knowing the talent that comes from that area, whether it’s an artist, a player, a coach, whatever it is, it’s the best place in the world.”

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s Week 9 game against the Houston Texans. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday