Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019 season after suffering a hip injury on Saturday afternoon.

Have we seen the last of him on a college football field? He’ll have an interesting NFL Draft decision to make in the coming months.

On Sunday morning’s SportsCenter, ESPN NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. weighed in on what this latest injury means for Tua’s future:

“Well, first of all, our thoughts and prayers are with Tua. What a sad day yesterday to see that happen.

“When you look at the medical situation — that has to play out. We don’t have all the answers on that to what the hip situation is moving forward in terms of the rehab, but what we do with the ankles, slight knee and lower extremity injuries over the last couple of years have obviously affected Tua and impact how teams will view him moving forward, especially when you think about Joe Burrow at LSU with the great year he’s had. He’s moved up to that No. 1 quarterback spot up near the top of the draft board. Then, Tua was right in with Justin Herbert from Oregon who’s been red hot of late with a big game last night. He’s on a roll and has weapons on that offense. He’s a big rocket armed quarterback. So, now, you look at Tua. He’s not 6-3. He doesn’t have the big-time arm strength and now the durability concern is obviously real and has been for a period of time because of the ankle injuries. So, this kind of complicates matters when you’re competing with two other quarterbacks who are highly rated — it puts you (Tua) right now third in line instead of No. 1 or No. 2 when you project forward to late April.”

It sounds like he’d still be considered a first-round pick, but who knows if he’ll even be able to participate in the NFL Combine in a few months?

This will be a story to monitor moving forward, as Tua could still opt to return to college.