It wasn’t too long ago that Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa faced off in SEC competition, and now the two both are starting quarterbacks in the NFL.

Tagovailoa has been inconsistent but has shown improvement under better circumstances, and he garnered some praise from his former rival ahead of the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals.

“He’s playing well. It’s exciting to see,” Burrow told reporters. “All the quarterbacks in our draft class have been playing well and that’s always exciting to see. The more talent the better.”

The former LSU signal-caller also indicated the two still maintain communication in what seems to be a solid relationship.

“Yeah, we’ve been around each other,” Burrow said. “He texted me when I got injured and I texted him when he got injured. We’ve stayed in contact since we played against each other last.”

The two teams are set to kick off at 7:15 p.m. CT in Paycor Stadium this week. The Bengals enter the game as slight favorites with a point spread of 4 points as they look to get back to .500 with a 1-2 overall record this season.