4 things to know about Alabama players in the Super Bowl

The big game is finally here.

In a mere few hours, America will clamor around their television sets to watch the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday's game will feature four former Alabama players in Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson and Josh Jobe. It's the first Super Bowl appearance for the quartet who will look to go 1-for-1 with a win tonight.

Here are four headlines to watch as the Eagles and Chiefs meet in Super Bowl LVII.

Jalen Hurts and championship games have become synonymous as his football career continues to unfold. Sunday marks the fifth championship game — national or conference — he'll play in and sports a 3-1 record in those games.

Alabama fans fondly remember his heroic 2018 SEC Championship performance where Hurts relived an injured Tua Tagovailoa, leading a 35-28 comeback against Georgia. After starting in 28 games and amassing more than 5,600 passing yards with Alabama, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma where he led the Sooners to a Big 12 Championship and a birth in the College Football Playoff before falling to the eventual national champions the LSU Tigers.

It was off to the NFL for Hurts who has posted a 23–11 regular-season record, completing 648 of 1,040 passes for 7,906 yards and 44 touchdowns in 34 starts. In his three playoff appearances, Hurts is 2-1 tossing for 533 passing yards and three touchdowns while completing 58% of his passes.

Sunday will also feature a matchup between the two top vote-getters in MVP voting as Patrick Mahomes won his second-career honor, beating out Hurts by 47 first-place votes.

It's no secret, Philadelphia is a run-first offense led by the elusive Hurts. But does Sunday serve as the opportunity to change things up?

Kansas City comes in as the 20th-ranked pass defense in the NFL and allowed the 19th-most receiving yards to opponents this season. The Chiefs have also allowed a league-high 35 passing touchdowns which could result in an uptick in production for the Eagle receiver.

Smith tallied 1,196 receiving yards and seven touchdowns which set new career highs for the former Heisman Trophy winner. In his lone appearance against the Chiefs, Smith torched the secondary, tallying seven receptions for 122 yards in the Eagles' loss in 2021. It's a mark that Smith crossed twice since that game, both of which came during this season.

After suffering an elbow injury during the NFC Championship Game, Dickerson has made steady progress and is likely to play tonight, according to multiple sources.

The guard's stability has made a huge difference for the offensive line, posting the second-highest pass block win rate among guards (97%) according to ESPN's metrics, and was tops in run block win rate (88%).

It's far-fetched that Dickerson will let another injury keep him out of a championship game if he can help it as he missed the 2021 National Championship Game with Alabama, but did get to take the final snap of the game before lifting Nick Saban up to celebrate the win.

Alabama fans will also see a familiar No. 28 on the Eagles' special teams unit. Former Crimson Tide cornerback Josh Jobe has carved out a role on the punt and kickoff team after signing as an undrafted free agent.

Jobe tallied 21 snaps in 13 games played this season and recorded his first NFL tackle against the New York Giants on Jan. 21.