As if leading his team to the Super Bowl and signing a massive contract extension weren’t enough, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts decided to add to his stellar year by earning a master’s degree.
Hurts, 24, received his master’s in human relations from Oklahoma on Friday, as a university vice president, Dr. David Surratt, posted to social media.
Hurts started his college football career at Alabama, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and information sciences after only three years. He transferred to Oklahoma in 2019 and began working on his master’s degree.
𝗦𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲
Congratulations to @JalenHurts on completing his Master’s degree from OU! 🎓#OUDNA pic.twitter.com/c0DVkA8JCh
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) May 13, 2023
The 24-year-old Hurts has said in interviews that he was inspired by his mother, who was a special education teacher around the time of his freshman year of college but saw colleagues around her being laid off and decided to be proactive.
“She went back to school, and she got her master’s to become a counselor,” Hurts told Essence in April. “That’s a living testimony for me.”
Earning his master’s degree caps off an eventful first half of 2023 for the Houston native.
In February, Hurts led the Eagles to Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Ariz., where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. The game included a controversial call against the Eagles with less than two minutes left that opened the door for the Chiefs to win, 38-35.
In April, Hurts signed a five-year contract extension worth $255 million, making him the highest paid player in NFL history on a per-year basis.
The Eagles open the season Sept. 10 on the road against the team they beat to win Super Bowl LII, the New England Patriots.