He is about to go off on Nov. 9.
As if he needed any more motivation to show he is the best quarterback in college football and the potential No. 1 overall pick for the 2020 NFL Draft, ESPN provided the fuel for Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa. On Thursday, the self-proclaim “Worldwide Leader in Sports” released its midseason All-America team and the junior signal caller was left off.
Joe Burrow, who has received much hype and praise for the job he has done at Louisiana State University, was chosen at quarterback by ESPN.
While he is having a great year, Tagovailoa changed the culture of Crimson Tide football. Prior to him, fans were satisfied with a power running game, a defense that did unholy things to quarterbacks, and a trigger man to simply manage the situation. The native Hawaiian has turned Tuscaloosa (Ala.) on his head in two seasons, transforming its offense in to a high-flying scoring attack at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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Tagovailoa has his name on almost every significant passing record for Alabama, with the exception of career passing yards. In terms of this year, he has the Tide in the top-10 in every major offensive category.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder has an NCAA-best 27 touchdown passes and unlike Burrow (three interceptions), Tagovailoa has just one turnover in six matchups.
He also leads the nation in total quarterback rating (QBR) at 96.1, per ESPN.
Even more interesting is Tagovailoa has not allowed Steve Sarkisian, Alabama’s offensive coordinator, to reach deeper into his playbook.
Opposition has had such a difficult time defending the simple things (slants, dump passes, post routes, etc…) that Sarkisian is saving his finest work for marquee competition.
The fact of the matter is people are tired of seeing Nick Saban’s program as the “Gold Standard” of the collegiate game. Rival fan bases and various personalities of national media are waiting on someone else to go on a run of championships.
However, it seems like Saban is not slowing down and neither is Tagovailoa.
Regardless of him having a season-high 11 incompletions versus Texas A&M, he still registered four scoring passes in a 47-28 win. The attention has been placed on Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields (to some extent), but Tagovailoa is fine with it.
Everyone is sleeping on him now, but the former five-star is using the next couple of games to end all critics in one month.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
