The day after the Eagles drafted DeVonta Smith, the No. 10 overall pick showed up in Philadelphia at the NovaCare Complex and was greeted by Jalen Hurts.
The two former Alabama teammates were clearly happy to see one another and dapped each other up in a video captured by the Eagles’ social media squad.
“We always talked about the possibility of us getting back together, being teammates,” Smith said on Wednesday as he returned to the NovaCare Complex for rookie minicamp. ”That’s great that it happened. We spoke it into existence. It happened and we’re excited.
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But they’re also not going to rest on their preexisting bond.
Now it’s about growing it.
There’s no doubt that being college teammates for two years and remaining friends will help Hurts and Smith on the field in 2021. It’s basically like a head start. There’s just a long way to run.
“It can only help so much,” Smith said. “We have to continue that … Just because we had the connection in college, doesn’t mean that it’s the same now. We’ve both grown as players, we both have things that we’ve added to our games. We have to build from that and get better now. I feel like whatever we did in college has nothing to do with now because things have changed over time.”
NFL
Smith is right. A lot has changed since these guys were last teammates in 2018.
Hurts left Alabama after the 2018 season and went to Oklahoma where he played in Lincoln Riley’s offense in 2019, improved as a passer and fortified his stock as a Day 2 draft pick. The Eagles took him at No. 53 last year.
And Smith put together an exceptional junior season and then came back for a Heisman Trophy-winning senior season all after Hurts left Tuscaloosa.
So there’s a history between Hurts and Smith, but neither are exactly the same player as when they last worked together.
Smith and Hurts make up just one of three notable duos of reuniting college receivers and quarterbacks from this NFL draft. No. 5 pick Ja’Marr Chase is reuniting with his LSU teammate Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. And No. 6 pick Jaylen Waddle is reuniting with his another Alabama teammate, Tua Tagovailoa, in Miami.
Recently, Smith was asked which reuniting duo would find the most success and he unsurprisingly picked the one he’s part of.
“I believe if you ask Waddle and Tua or you ask Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr, they’re going to say themselves. I mean, that’s what you’re supposed to say,” Smith said on Wednesday. “You’re supposed to be confident about it. It’s just being confident. I believe me and Jalen will continue the connection that we have. That’s just the confidence we have it in. If you aren’t confident in what you’re doing, you’re in the wrong business.”
Smith is one of nine draft picks and plenty more undrafted free agents who will be at rookie minicamp this weekend. But as a second-year player, Hurts won’t be there to throw him passes.
These two will really reunite on June 8 at the mandatory minicamp. That’s when the real work will begin.
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