Tua Tagovaila Makes His Decision

Tua Tagovailoa has declared he will forgo his senior season at Alabama to declare for the 2020 NFL draft. The junior quarterback suffered a hip injury against Mississippi State on November 16 causing him to miss the remainder of the 2019 season. Tagovailoa flew to New York over the weekend for a doctor’s opinion on this hip. Tagovailoa is widely speculated to still be a top half of the first round selection despite likely being unavailable to participate in the pre-draft process.

Tagovailoa came to Alabama as a five-star prospect, the number one dual-threat quarterback and best player out of the state of Hawaii in the 2017 recruiting class. He will leave Alabama in third place in all-time passing yards with 7,442, first place in touchdown passes with 87, the single season passing yards leader with 3,966 yards and the first and second best single season passing touchdown marks with 43 and 33 respectively.

Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to a historic comeback against the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football National Championship game after replacing then starter Jalen Hurts in January of 2018. He then led Alabama to an undefeated regular season in 2018, winning an SEC championship, the SEC offensive player of the year, the Walter Camp Award, the Sporting News player of the year, the Maxwell award and finished as runner up for the Heisman trophy.

Tagovailoa has suffered numerous injuries while playing in Tuscaloosa, he sprained his knee in 2018 against Tennessee, a sprained ankle the same season against Georgia in the SEC championship game, a broken finger during the 2019 offseason, sprained the opposite ankle in 2019 playing Tennesee and suffered a dislocated hip with a fractured wall and broken nose on the same play against Mississippi State in 2019.

Tagovailoa will look to hear his name called in the first round of April’s draft with potentially the Detroit Lions at pick three, Miami Dolphins at pick five, Los Angeles Chargers at pick six, Carolina Panthers at pick seven, Oakland Raiders at pick 12, Indianapolis Colts at pick 13 and even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at pick 14 as suitors for Tagovailoa’s talents. Quarterback is the hardest position to find in the NFL so undoubtedly many teams will be eager to draft him.

“I’m optimistic I’ll be able to play this coming season,” said Tagovailoa at his announcement.

Alabama, while losing Tagovailoa, will be fine at quarterback next year with  Mac Jones, Taulia Tagovailoa and Paul Tyson returning to Tuscaloosa, incoming freshman Bryce Young will also compete for the starting job along.  Keep it locked in with Tide 100.9fm, tide1009.com/listen-live and the TIDE APP for all your updates on the Alabama Crimson Tide.