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Its easy to appraise Jalen Hurts by the numbers: The yards, the touchdowns and the wins.But perhaps the most notable number is his age, 18. Top-ranked Alabamas freshman quarterback has shown poise beyond his years under the pressure of leading the Crimson Tide to a Southeastern Conference title and playoff berth.Alabamas offensive leader is just a teenager from Texas who hadnt let a team to a championship since he was an 8-year-old on the East Houston Aggies. He hasnt often looked like an 18-year-old on the field.Im a firm believer in age being nothing but a number, Hurts said. And I feel like if you step up to any situation and youre able to play your game, be confident, have the poise you need to have, youll be all right.Hurts is trying to become only the second true freshman quarterback to lead a major college team to a national title. Oklahomas Jamelle Holloway replaced an injured Troy Aikman in 1985 and led the Sooners to eight straight wins.So far, Hurts is a perfect 12-0 as a starter since claiming the job after the opener and has been named SEC offensive player of the year. His journey to a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with No. 4 Washington on Dec. 31 hasnt been all paved in crimson glory, but more a season-long rubber band-like grind of snapping back from negative plays, like a fumble that Mississippi returned for a touchdown. Big plays often follow the bad ones.Hurts has gotten better later in games, including in the second half of the Iron Bowl against Auburn and the SEC championship game against Florida.Thats unusual because freshmen are rookies, Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said after the SEC championship game in Atlanta. What do they do? They usually screw up in the fourth quarter. Hes special.Of course, Hurts has also had few games that were still undecided in the fourth quarter.He has of course benefited from a supporting cast full of NFL talent and the nations best defense, much like `Bama predecessors including Jake Coker, AJ McCarron and Greg McElroy -- each of whom led the Tide to national titles.Hurts arrived in Tuscaloosa in time to play Clemsons Deshaun Watson for the scout team leading up to the national championship game last season. He has been able to escape some of the grind of being quarterback of a national title contender since coach Nick Saban doesnt allow freshmen to talk to reporters during the regular season. So the SEC championship postgame scrum looked like a full-out blitz, with Hurts surrounded by reporters and TV cameras scrambling for his first public comments as `Bamas starter.He handled it with aplomb and didnt bite when asked to evaluate his season.As a team, I think weve done a great job, Hurts said, repeating himself when asked a second time.Being the quarterback of an active dynasty in a state where college football reigns supreme could overwhelm any player, freshman or senior.Hes handled it extremely well, said McElroy, an SEC Network analyst who helped lead the Tide to the 2009 national title. Has he been perfect? No. Is there a lot of room for improvement? Absolutely. But given the pressure and the circumstance of playing quarterback at Alabama -- as soon as youre named the starter you immediately become one of the most heavily scrutinized people in the entire state.Hurts, the son of a high school coach, has put up big numbers along the way, already running for more yards in a season than any other Tide quarterback.He has rushed for 841 yards and 12 touchdowns, keeping the offense going even when the passing game isnt clicking. He has also completed 65.3 percent of his passes for 2,592 yards and 22 touchdowns with nine interceptions.Hurts has been a better finisher than starter. He has passed for 14 touchdowns and been intercepted just twice in the second half of games, when hes also produced many of his biggest plays. That includes a 21-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run in a 10-0 win at LSU in a game that was otherwise dominated by the defenses.I think people were on him a little bit after the LSU game and I just told him, `Man, Jalen, you just went into Tiger Stadium at night in an Alabama-LSU game and won and really made the one significant play on offense, Kiffin said. Hes a special player.Hurts credits his father and prep coach, Averion, for helping him be ready to handle the challenges and successes at Alabama. Hurts also absorbed lessons by watching his older brother Averion Jr. -- a quarterback at Texas Southern -- learn the hard way.All the butt-chewings he got, I learned from those, he said. Life is all about learning.Then he went on to play for another demanding coach in Saban, who has regularly held one-on-one Sunday film sessions with his quarterback.Hurts said not even Sabans chewing-outs can match those coming from his father.There aint nothing like getting a butt-chewing from your blood, he said.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. Willie Roaf Saints Jersey .C. -- Manny Malhotra had two goals and an assist, leading the Carolina Hurricanes to a 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. Archie Manning Womens Jersey . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. http://www.authenticsaintssportsonline.com/saints-marshon-lattimore-gold-jersey/ . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Erik McCoy Saints Jersey . The Dane followed up his first European Tour title last weekend with eight birdies and just a single dropped shot on Thursday for a one-stroke advantage over South Africas Allan Versfeld and Portugals Ricardo Santos. Sam Mills Womens Jersey . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. LOS ANGELES -- Harrison Barnes believes he still would be a member of the Golden State Warriors if they had won last seasons NBA championship.However, Barnes knew after his exit interview in the wake of the Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers that he had likely played his final game for the franchise. He described his chances of returning to the Warriors at that point as slim to none, even though Golden State had the right to match any offer he received as a restricted free agent.There were a lot of emotions after a Game 7 loss, said Barnes, who will return to Oracle Arena as a visitor for the first time along with fellow former Warrior Andrew Bogut on Wednesday, when the Dallas Mavericks face Golden State. I think a lot of people were upset, frustrated. And we blew a 3-1 lead. So that was the mindset. I think we knew they were going to blow it up if we lost that series, which we did. I cant say I was surprised.Golden State management informed Barnes during that meeting they would have other priorities in free agency, essentially confirming seasonlong rumors that they planned to pursue Kevin Durant. The Warriors needed to let Barnes leave and move another significant salary in a trade to make room to give the superstar a maximum contract.It was difficult, man, Barnes said. Just because you go back and you watch Game 7 and youre like, Man, its two minutes away from planning a parade or Thank you for your services. It was a pretty big switch.At the end of the day, youve got to put that stuff to the side. I made the decision to go to Dallas. I dont really dwell on that and just move forward.The Mavs signed Barnes to a four-year, $94 million max contract, a move that was questioned by many, considering his pedestrian offensive numbers during his four seasons as a complementary player for the Warriors. He averaged 10.1 points per game during his Golden State stint, including a career-best scoring average of 11.7 points last season.But Barnes has quickly blossomed as a primary option with Dallas, which desperately needs him to be a prolific scorer, since?Dirk Nowitzki?is dealing with health issues. Barnes is averaging 22.3 points per game on 50.8 percent shooting. He already has more 30-plus-point performances for the Mavs (three) -- including consecutive games during the 2-5 Mavs modest winning streak -- than he did for the Warriors (one).Theres a lot more opportunity for me here, said Barnes, who had 31 points on 11 of 18 shooting in TTuesdays 109-97 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.dddddddddddd The offense is different. Obviously, Im not complaining about my role at Golden State, because we won a lot of games doing that. But in the same regard here, theres just more opportunities to do different things.I love it. As a player, you always want to know what you can do. At the end of your career, you can look back and say, look, I was able to get this much out of my playing career and I was able to become this type of player. I think thats what allows you to sleep well at night. Im getting a chance to see and experience and learn. Obviously, we had a rough start, some growing pains. But Im really looking forward to this situation.Barnes acknowledged that it made sense for the Warriors to pursue Durant, whose arrival gave Golden State three of the leagues most explosive scorers, as the 2013-14 MVP joined two-time MVP Stephen Curry and All-Star Klay Thompson.Bogut, who was traded to Dallas in a salary-dump deal, characterized it as an easy decision for Golden State general manager Bob Myers, despite the Warriors winning the 2014-15 title and setting an NBA regular-season record with 73 wins in 2015-16.Look, you get a chance to get one of the best players in the world, you jump at that chance, Bogut said. If Im the GM, you generally jump at that chance.Obviously, we had a lot of success with the group that we had. We understood our roles. We knew our strengths and our weaknesses each way -- individually and how we needed to lift each other up. But obviously, theyre looking to build for the future too. Theyre trying to build it for the next five or six years and not just the next one or two.The Warriors considered Barnes an insurance policy, as he put it, and would have matched the Mavs offer if Durant had chosen to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Barnes said he considered his exit interview the closing of that chapter of his career.It would have been a little awkward, Barnes said. At a press conference if they would have been like, Yeah, we really wanted him to come [back], no one would really believe that. You know what Im saying?How things went down, like I said, its a business. Its not something you get emotionally hurt about or anything like that, but when you lose and they say, Thank you, were going to go in a different direction, you take that and keep it moving. ' ' '