But he added football has moved on since the Italian guided them into Europe.
The current head coach and his immediate predecessor go head-to-head when Albion visit Tottenham tomorrow.
Hurzeler told his Friday morning press conference: “I think he deserves the praise because he had a huge impact here on this club.
“He had great achievements with the players. He reached Europe for the first time so he deserves this praise.
“On the other side, when the whistle blows, it’s a game between Brighton and Tottenham and our approach is the same.
“We are there to achieve something, we are there to win this game. We are there to keep showing the right habits and therefore that’s our main focus.”
Hurzeler said he did not look to make sweeping changes when he replaced De Zerbi after the 2023-24 season.
He added: “I came into an environment. I came into a group that had a really good understanding of football, being coached by him, by De Zerbi.
“I’m not De Zerbi, so I have also my principles, my style of play and my conviction, but these are just like small adjustments, small adaptations.
“I didn’t want to come here and change everything because he had really positive success with the club and with his style of play.
“It was more about like adjusting small things and now we are playing with some players who didn’t play under him so we needed to educate them in our style. It was more about adjusting small things.”
But he added: “You never should forget that football continues.
“There are always new trends. Two, three years ago was a completely different football to now.
“There are different demands in the Premier League. They are much more physical games.
“The teams and individual players get much more physical, set-pieces get much more important.
“You see a new trend in football, so you can’t say that the football that was successful two, three, four years ago will be successful today.
“It’s an ongoing process where also you as coaches have to overthink your idea without losing your foundation, without losing your key principles.”