Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe won’t be the Heisman Trophy winner on Saturday night. But Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is rooting for Milroe to win something even bigger – one Texas prep star turned Crimson Tide QB to another.

“He’s had a great year,” Hurts said at his press conference this week. “He’s always been a very special player. He’s a Texas kid. And he’s just continued to grow and grow and grow. It’s been really nice to watch, so I’ve been supporting him from a distance, and I’m just happy to see him get in the final four and happy to see him have the opportunity to lead his team and, hopefully, get a national title. All my support goes to him.”

Hurts’ influence on Milroe was evident immediately after Alabama’s 27-24 victory over previously undefeated Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 2.

“Keep the main thing the main thing,” Milroe said in an on-the-field TV interview right after the game when asked about the basis for his success this season. “Before anybody had an opinion of me, I had my purpose already, so the biggest thing was just stay true to myself, and I had the right support system around me to uplift me.”

“Keep the main thing the main thing” is a Hurts’ press conference staple. And when asked in February before Super Bowl LVII why he’d been so successful when plenty of evaluators didn’t think he’d make a top-of-the-line NFL quarterback, Hurts’ answer included: “I had a purpose before everybody had an opinion.”

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Alabama’s victory against Georgia got the Crimson Tide into the College Football Playoff. Alabama will square off against Michigan in the Rose Bowl at 4 p.m. CST Jan. 1 for a spot in the national-championship game.

Hurts played in the CFP in every season of his college career – three with Alabama and one with Oklahoma – and was on the championship team for the 2017 campaign with the Tide.

Hurts and the Eagles have four games before Alabama plays again, starting with an NFC East showdown against the Dallas Cowboys at 7:20 p.m. Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

At 10-2, Philadelphia has the best record in the NFL. But at 9-3, the Cowboys are just one game behind the Eagles at the top of the division standings.

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