The ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary” will air its next episode at 8 p.m. CST Wednesday, but it won’t pack the NFL star power of last week’s Season 3 premiere.

With the fictional title school of the sitcom located in Philadelphia, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts makes an appearance for Abbott Elementary’s career day, where the former Alabama standout is referred to as “America’s sweetheart.”

Hurts is later joined on the Zoom call to the school by Philadelphia center Jason Kelce and defensive lineman Brandon Graham, who want to know why he’s late for practice only to find out their quarterback had been the middle man in a marriage proposal.

“Jalen Hurts’ people actually emailed us in the middle of Season 2 to say that he was a big fan of the show,” showrunner Justin Halpern told the Hollywood Reporter, “and if there was ever an opportunity, he’d be interested in being on it. Sports are a big part of Philadelphia. It’s in the DNA of the city. Our characters talk about it. (Series star) Quinta (Brunson) said before, ‘You can’t do a Philly show and not have them talking about sports.’

“So we’re doing this career-day episode, and we want a fun, exciting guest star for our premiere, but not just a famous person because they’re famous. So we were like, “Oh, it’d be so great if what (expletive) up her career day is the fact that she ends up getting somebody who’s too famous in terms of Philly.’

“So we reached out and they were preparing for the playoffs, so we knew we couldn’t fly him out here. So we said, ‘Let’s just have it happen via Zoom, and that’ll be how we do it.’ And then it just all kind of worked out. We have an amazing crew, and they made it happen.”

Hurts completed his third season as Philadelphia’s starting quarterback in January. He participated in the Pro Bowl Games this month after having to skip the NFL’s all-star event last season because the Eagles were playing in Super Bowl LVII.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.