NFL Sophomore Watch: Tua Tagovailoa might be traded

The College Years

Tua Tagovailoa is of Samoan descent and grew up in Hawaii. He went to Saint Louis School in Honolulu, the same school that former Oregon and current Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Marcus Mariota attended. Tagovailoa knew Mariota and considered him a mentor growing up. Tagovailoa had a decorated high school career where he was named to the All-American Bowl, which is a high school all-star game.

He was also invited to the Elite 11 quarterback competition, where he earned the MVP. Former NFL quarterback and Super Bowl winner Trent Dilfer is the head coach of the Elite 11 and has spoken at length about Tua Tagovailoa’s talent.

Coming out of high school Tagovailoa was the top-ranked recruit from the state of Hawaii and the #1 dual threat quarterback recruit. He was named a 5-star prospect (the highest possible rating) by multiple recruiting agencies. He enrolled at Alabama in January of 2017 and began his true freshman season as the Crimson Tide’s backup to incumbent quarterback Jalen Hurts.

In 2017 Tagovailoa scant saw action, usually only being inserted into games when Alabama was blowing out the other team. But his big moment came in the College Football Playoff National Championship game, when Alabama and Crimson Tide starting quarterback Jalen Hurts played poorly and trailed Georgia 13-0 at halftime. Tagovailoa played the second half of that game, and led Alabama to a spirited comeback, capped off by a game-winning 41-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Smith in overtime. The Crimson Tide triumphed 26-23, and Tua Tagovailoa was named the offensive MVP of the game. Tua Tagovailoa had officially arrived.

2018 was the banner year for Tua Tagovailoa. He dominated the SEC and college football at large, leading Alabama to a 14-1 record and throwing for 3,966 yards on a dizzying 11.2 yards per pass attempt. His touchdown to interception ratio was a gaudy 43-6, and he finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray. Tagovailoa set the NCAA record for single season passer rating at 199.4. The one blemish on his standout season was the National Championship game against Clemson (which we’ll touch on more later) where Tagovailoa was intercepted twice, and his team got shellacked 44-16.

2019 was more of the same for Tua Tagovailoa, as he actually improved his completion percentage from 69% in 2018 to 71.4% in 2019. He slightly improved his yards per pass attempt to 11.3 and had a sparkling 33-3 touchdown to interception ratio before he was severely injured in a road game against Mississippi State late in the year. Alabama was leading the game 35-7 in the second quarter at the time of the injury and many wondered why he was still in the game. He had apparently lobbied his head coach Nick Saban to keep him in, and it cost both men dearly.