Recent headlines haven’t been kind to former Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa. The leadup to the 2020 NFL Draft, notorious for being a rumor-mill “silly season,” has led to Tagovailoa being labeled ‘injury-prone’ and reports that he is “off the board” for multiple NFL teams. Meanwhile, pundits are debating whether the quarterback once linked to “tanking” for the No. 1 pick is now worth a top-5 or top-10 selection.

This weekend, Tagovailoa got some positive publicity from an unexpected source: Gus Malzahn. The Auburn head coach recently joined Lance Medow on Sirius XM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio to discuss the top quarterbacks in next week’s draft.

Similar to his comments on Joe Burrow, Malzahn shared what he noticed watching Tagovailoa on film.

“If you watch enough film on him…the more film you watch on him, the more you’re impressed with him,” Malzhan said. “He’s unbelievably accurate. He can really extend pays. He protects the football. He throws a great deep ball. He’s scary. When you try to game plan around that guy, it’s really scary because he’s so…he gets the ball out quick, he doesn’t take sacks and I’ve always been a big fan of him and I think he’s going to be a good pro too.”

Tagovailoa will likely learn his NFL Draft fate on Thursday when the first round will be held. We’ll see over the next few years if Malzahn is right that the former Crimson Tide star will be a “good pro.”

[H/T 247Sports]