How will we remember Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama? Some thoughts on a unique legacy that could be in the books
Let’s start with a story.
Tua Tagovailoa’s first career start was roughly 10 miles from where I live just north of downtown Orlando. Like the rest of the college football world, I was fired up to see what Tagovailoa was going to do for an encore. After 2nd-and-26 combined with an offseason quarterback battle with Jalen Hurts, I was ready for the Tagovailoa era to begin.
After witnessing Tagovailoa shred apart Louisville’s woeful defense all night, I had a thought that I shared with a few people. It was based on his scrambling ability to make plays like his first touchdown pass, his ability to drop deep balls into his receivers’ hands like a pillow from the heavens and well, his obvious knack for the big-time moment (more related to 2nd-and-26 than a Week 1 game against Louisville).
I said after that game, “I think I’m gonna tell my grandkids one day that I witnessed Tua Tagovailoa’s first college start.”
Did I get ahead of my skis? Perhaps. After all, I was just a 28-year old married guy without kids. Who was I to start talking grandkids?
Oh, and I might’ve gotten a bit ahead of my skis on trying to predict Tagovailoa’s legacy after a Week 1 game against Louisville.
After Saturday’s loss to LSU in which Tagovailoa had a less-than-perfect but still prolific performance on his surgically repaired ankle, Alabama’s path to a Playoff looks narrow at best. As it stands, it might take some 2007-level craziness for the Crimson Tide to make the field. (Don’t come at me with a take about 2017. That team had 3 wins against ranked foes and the field was different because there were 2 Power 5 conference champions with multiple losses.)
So while nothing is guaranteed yet, let’s talk about Tagovailoa’s legacy. If there’s not a Playoff game in Alabama’s near future and Tagovailoa is heading to the NFL Draft at season’s end — that’s the most likely scenario at this point — there’s not a ton that can change how we’ll remember him as a college player.
He’ll have won a national championship in historic fashion, albeit not as the game’s starter. Still, he’ll forever be synonymous with one of the great plays in college football history. It’d be hard to argue against it as the greatest play in Alabama history. Had that been the final play of Tagovailoa’s career, his legacy at Alabama is pretty easy to define.
Greatest quarterback in program history, perhaps the greatest player in program history and certainly he’d be on the Mount Rushmore of SEC quarterbacks. He might still be all of those things even if this season ends with him playing sparingly down the stretch and sitting out a New Year’s 6 Bowl (I’m not saying that’ll happen. I’m just pointing out the most realistic anticlimactic ending to his career.)
For now, let’s talk specifically about his Alabama legacy.
Barring a miracle, Tagovailoa will finish his career with fewer rings than AJ McCarron. Some will use that as a knock against Tagovailoa. Others (like myself), would point to the fact that McCarron played on Alabama teams that relied more on the running game and had better defenses. And while history sort of overlooks McCarron’s efficiency and clutch throws because of how dominant Alabama’s running game was, Tagovailoa was clearly the better quarterback.
Tagovailoa won’t own every Alabama passing record because he only started 2 years compared to McCarron’s 3 — Tagovailoa would need to average 359 total yards in Alabama’s last 4 games to beat McCarron’s mark for career yards — but the numbers bear out who the more productive player was.
As it stands, Tagovailoa has Alabama’s:
- Career TD record (94 and counting)
- Career record in yards per game
- Single-season mark for TDs (43)
- He needs 15 to break is own record
- 4 more this year would move him ahead of Jalen Hurts for No. 2 behind himself
- Most accurate passer in program history
- Single-game record with 6 TDs
Again, that’s pretty impressive for someone who has less than 2 full seasons of starts. He’ll finish his career all over the Alabama record books as its most productive, efficient quarterback ever. That’s not in question.
But what about in all of college football? Barring something drastic happening down the stretch, he won’t have had the triple crown single season like Cam Newton did in 2010 (Heisman, SEC Championship, national championship), nor will he have the career numbers of a Tim Tebow or a Baker Mayfield, both of whom were 3-year starters. The national championship moment and efficiency puts Tagovailoa ahead of a fellow 2-year starter like Johnny Manziel, despite the fact that the latter has the Heisman.
What I think is fascinating to think about is what Tagovailoa’s career numbers would have looked like had he been given the opportunity to be a 4-year starter like Aaron Murray. Tagovailoa only has 36 fewer touchdown passes than Murray — the SEC’s all-time leader in that department — despite the fact that Tagovailoa played in 21 fewer games than Murray. And Tagovailoa only has 23 starts compared to Murray’s 52.
The game is certainly different than it was 20 years ago when someone like Peyton Manning was carving up defenses. Still, it’s incredible to think that Tagovailoa needs just 5 more touchdown passes to surpass Manning, who was a 4-year starter at Tennessee (he played in 45 games).
Maybe looking back to compare Tagovailoa to the great college quarterbacks won’t be what defines his legacy. Perhaps the better way of breaking it down is looking at how close his successor comes to matching his productivity. That’s not just a numbers thing, either.
Lost in the shuffle of LSU’s coronation over the weekend was the fact that Saturday marked just the second time that Alabama lost a game in which Tagovailoa started. That’s with a running game and a defense that’s looked much more mortal the last couple seasons than it did when Saban’s decade of dominance began. Alabama’s losses with Tagovailoa as the starter came in games in which the defense surrendered 44 and 46 points. How much will that be brought up when people look back on his career? I don’t know.
What I do know is that if there are somehow Alabama fans pushing him out the door, they’re out of their minds. He’s a once-in-a-generation player who probably had the highest bar to reach of any player before their first start in college football history. That’s what happens when you lead a comeback victory that’s capped with walk-off touchdown pass to win the national championship.
For some, it won’t matter than Tagovailoa led the most prolific offense in program history. Some won’t let his separate ankle injuries serve as an excuse as to why he suffered those 2 losses. For others, they’ll look at the entire body of work and label him as one of the great college football players of the 21st century. They’ll see a guy who won a national title, put up absurd numbers and left Alabama as a top draft pick.
Whatever the case, it’ll be an interesting discussion for college football fans to have over the course of the next decade. Tagovailoa’s legacy is as unique as any I can remember. There’s still a chance that one day I’ll tell my grandkids about witnessing his first career start at Alabama.
An even better bet? Tagovailoa is forever considered one of the great quarterbacks in college football history.
Dudes a champion no doubt about it..
He may be the best QB in SEC history and it’s really something that he doesn’t get talked about like he is. Maybe he just hasn’t been compared to Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel, Peyton Manning, or Danny Wuerffel because his career is still in progress but he has a claim that he’s better than all of them as a QB. He may already be looked at that way if he hadn’t been robbed of his Heisman last year.
How do you think he was robbed?
He put up one of the greatest regular seasons of all time, beat the Heisman winner head-to-head, and in the end had it taken away from him for a jittery midget because he faltered at the end thanks to a crippled ankle. The only defenses that really gave him fits were UGA and Clemson, two of the best in the country at the time.
I think he was robbed because he was a better player than Kyler Murray was last season and yet Kyler Murray was given the award. Had Tua played in the Big 12 he would have put up numbers that would never be reached. He was better than Kyler against tougher competition and was judged more off of the SECCG than he was the rest of the season.
He’s really good, perhaps great. But I dont know how he could be the best quarterback in SEC history when he’s not even the best quarterback in the SEC right now.
Because History isn’t right now…
☝️ What he said !!
Not what the Delusional
None of the guys you listed had the talent around them that Tua does. I would put him behind all of them.
Tim Tebow and Cam Newton are the 2 best SEC qb’s Ive ever seen on the college level.
Peyton Manning is obviously a legend and was great in college, but at the college level, the other 2 pretty much changed the game.
If we’re going for their entire careers, I think it disqualifies Cam because he only played 1 year. Tim Tebow is the greatest college QB of all-time. It’s not even close to anyone else. He should have won at least 2 if not 3 Heismans. Wuerffel is the 2nd best QB in SEC history. I don’t really see how Tua can even be in the discussion. He’s not even the best QB in the SEC right now.
I wonder why the best quarterback in the SEC took until his fifth year and third system to be good?
That’s a bold statement.
Just an opinion. He might end up being a better pro, but until he proves he can stay healthy and put a team on his back and win the biggest game of the year…I’ll stay put. He made an exceptional throw in the title game his freshman year, but I’m not convinced they would have been in that game if he had started all year.
Urban Meyer had the highest rated recruiting class of all time (at the time). Tebow had multitudes of talent around him, and to pretend otherwise is absurd.
Urban had 1 top recruiting class which ranked 10th overall historically. You’re delusional if you think that Florida team had the talent of Bama.
That can’t be true because I know according to 247 composite he had the number one recruiting class in 2003 and 2007.
I didn’t look past that as I remember those two years and Saban started taking over in 2008…
Just because you say something doesn’t make it true and what you said is easily proven wrong…. Good try though.
That was a reply to weagle…
Hey look everybody, it’s a butt hurt auburn fan saying dumb stuff!
Oh look…an Updyke. There goes the intelligent debate.
Oh no, let’s continue – I’m enjoying your unbiased opinions on your football rivals. You’re making lots of sense here!
Lmao @ robbed…
I mean, he was the best player that year.
He’s had a great career, but I dont think you can ignore the fact that in 2 of the biggest games in his career, he was outplayed by the other quarterback. Now in both cases, the other quarterback was and is outstanding…but when we’re talking about superlatives like we are here, that definitely matters, imo.
You also can’t ignore what he has had around him, the time he often gets to throw, and the ridiculous core of receivers they currently have.
I’m not hating on the guy at all, but when you’re talking about the level we’re talking about for Tua, these are things that factor, imho.
It’s 11/12/2019 and Tyler Simmons is still onsides in that National Title game.
You still crying?
well… I don’t know where you are but where I am it’s 11/13/19
I think that nationally, he’ll mostly be remembered similar to the way Doug Flutie is remembered: for one play in a big game.
Throw in the fact that Alabama has been playing weak schedules over his career. I personally would prefer A.J. McCarron, dude was an quiet assassin.
The issue will always be that he got to throw the ball to the likes of Calvin Ridley, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Devonta Smith, and Jaylen Waddle. Which is still mind-boggling.
Exactly.
When people start talking about the greatest college QB’s of all time, Tua will surely be in the discussion. He will have a stronger case if Bama were to make the playoffs and win the title this season. Everyone will always be entitled to their own opinions on this stuff. Right now, my opinion is that Tebow had the greatest college career and Cam had the greatest single season.
I agree with both statements.
Tua is subject to some strange narratives these days. I guess it’s a result of having his media star peak so early.
He will be remembered as a 1 trick pony.. A highly overrated, injury proned qb, who couldn’t deliver in big games when we needed him to… All those personal records are cool, but this is a team sport, but im sure we’d rather have Nattys
“we” indeed.
He was a UGA fan when he started his account…
I agree. Tua has an amazing arm, no argument, but he never could run. We ALWAYS knew he’s gonna pass or hand off. One trick pony, for sure. And now that he’s suffered this terrible injury he will be martyred beyond belief. I truly hope he recovers and plays in the NFL, but I honestly never for a moment saw him as “the greatest” Alabama QB ever.
What do u consider “Big Games”?
The SECC Game, CFP Semifinal Game & the National Championship Game are the 3 Biggest Games/Venues that CFB has so ur either a TROLL, a Moron or BOTH! I know the correct answer as does anybody else that’s read ur dumb ass comment.
Tua is a great athlete, leader, and competitor. My knock on him is that he makes poor decisions in the biggest games. He takes sacks he should know better than to take. He tries to force passes into coverage. He will make 10 outstanding plays and then one terrible play. I have never fully bought into the Tua Koolaid. FYI, Jalen Hurts is now having the same problems at OK that he had at Bama. Sometimes I think you build a great defense, a great running game, outstanding receivers and you get a guy like AJ McCarron to run the show for you.
I actually agree there. AJ McCarron isn’t in the conversation for greatest college QB ever because he didn’t have an all-world arm or carry a team on his back, but he was the perfect QB for a Nick Saban team. He was always going to get the ball to the right guy on just about every play, and when you are as loaded with talent as Alabama, that’s all you need to do.
But I do like Tua and his character. He’s a very humble guy and if he stays healthy will have a long career in the NFL.
Honestly I can say that I’ve never watched a game when he won.. So I’ve seen two Alabama games in the past 2 years.. So no comment really.. All I can say is that he is no Tebow..