After viewing Tua Tagovailoa practice this week, Gary Danielson shares assessment of Alabama QB: 'He's not 100 percent'
We all know by now that Tua Tagovailoa was injured against Tennessee back on Oct. 19 and had surgery on his ankle the following day. What we don’t know is how recovered Tagovailoa’s ankle is a few weeks into his rehab.
All that Nick Saban will say when it comes to the status of his star quarterback is that the junior signal-caller is a “game-time decision” heading into Alabama’s showdown against LSU.
Despite what Alabama is trying to sell, no one is expecting the Crimson Tide to take the field without the Heisman Trophy candidate — even Ed Orgeron says LSU is fully expecting Tagovailoa to play on Saturday. That being said, just how far along Tagovailoa is in his recovery does remain a mystery.
One person that doesn’t have to toe the company line for Alabama when it comes to Tua’s status is CBS analyst Gary Danielson. The analyst will be working the upcoming Alabama-LSU game for CBS on Saturday and after viewing the Tide practice on Thursday, Danielson shared his takeaway from seeing Tua on the practice field.
“I watched Tua practice (Thursday), he’s not 100%. I don’t care what Alabama says…he doesn’t have that spring in his step, it’s not natural,” Danielson said to SiriusXM show ‘SEC This Morning’ according to the show’s host Peter Burns. “He’s okay…I’d be playing if I was him, but he’s not the Tua that started the season.”
That’s got to be a concern for Alabama fans heading into the biggest game of their season. It’s going to take Tua executing at a high level to beat LSU and while nothing Danielson said should leave fans thinking the Tide can’t win on Saturday, the odds to do so may have just taken a hit.
Here is a clip of Danielson’s appearance on the show:
Two National Title Contenders.
Two Elite QBs.
Two Healthy QBs? @CBSSports analyst Gary Danielson tells @PeterBurnsESPN and @ChrisDoering he isn't sold that we're going to see a fully healthy version of Tua Tagovailoa on Saturday. #RollTide #GeauxTigers pic.twitter.com/hvoOqupJgr— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) November 8, 2019
I don’t think anyone is expecting him to be 100 percent but 80 or better and he is still better than numerous QBs…
80% Tua is definitely better than no Tua..
Very true.. I’m pretty sure the ankle is heavily wrapped as well which is going to Take away some of his mobility even if there isn’t any pain.
I’d imagine after he takes a few hits he will be a little more comfortable and be able to settle in an not worry about the ankle.
I hope he doesn’t take any hits but I agree.. I think once he gets tackled and realizes he is ok afterwards he will probably move past it just fine..
Lol18… he ain’t taking any hits from that LSU D line.. Bama still has a top 10 total D… see y’all in the post season… never. Lol
You were saying??
Wouldn’t recommend paying attention to anything Danielson says. Many people mute the games in favor of radio just to avoid having to listen to his commentary. TuaWatch fatigue is real, just one more day.
interesting, I find Danielson one of the best color college football announcers out there. Watching games over the years, I’ve seen countless times where he has perfectly predicted what was about to happen based on trends, formations, etc .
I’m not interested in arguing over it, I just found your comment interesting bc most of the people Ive watched SEC games with like Danielson. Ive never really heard anyone I know complain about him like that.
I know you said you you werent looking to argue but I have to ask was this a joke? Ive never heard anyone say Gary Danielson was good at his job. Theres thousands of facebook memes about how terrible he is. Most people mute the television and listen to the radio to keep from hearing his drivel.
Nope, not at all. Completely honest. I’ve never been known as one to worry too much about overall opinion, or that i might be in the minority. I Honestly didnt even know he was disliked so widely as you all say.
I got to be honest tho, Now that I think of it, I’m not sure I can tell you an announcer that “I cant stand”. I guess if they bother me at any point, I just tune them out or dont pay attention to it.
I actually enjoy Gary Danielson. He makes some mistakes, but so does every other announcer out there.
BigS, you are correct. Gary is only good if its your team he’s pulling for. He’s the most bias commentator in football.
He is absolutely terrible because of his bias. He picks a team before the game. If you like him you must be rooting for the same team he is.
Some people say he’s biased, but I think he just holds teams to the standard that Alabama sets and people get irritated by his comparison of their team to Alabama.
Interesting take on Danielson. The majority of SEC fans I know cringe when they find out he is calling the games. They do the radio thing just to not have to hear him. I personally have know several people who contacted CBS Sports begging to have him moved to another conference. His input on Tua carries no weight which fans of either team.
Same. Danielson obviously has a fantastic knowledge of the game. I’ll never get the “biased” accusations. I’ve literally seen both sides of a Danielson-commentated game accuse him of bias over the course of the same game. lol If there’s any truth to it, I haven’t seen it. I personally like his style, but I don’t have a problem with people who don’t.
Not a big Danielson fan either. His game knowledge is obvious, but not a fan of his thinking he controls the replays. I always listen to the radio instead of him. JMO
I don’t get people that don’t want announcers to give their opinions on replays. Do you just want them to sit there in silence the whole time a replay is being shown?
I think some announcers get a narrative started when they insist a play should be called one way and it ends up being called differently.. Gary does go overboard sometimes with replays and will talk about a replay from the first quarter the entire game..
He is hoping Tua is not close to 100% means game will be closer.
Completely believe Gary Danielson, as there seems no rational way that Tua could possibly be 100% this soon after the injury and surgery. There was a longer period between surgery and the playoff last year. He wasnt 100% then, he’s not going to be now.
He wasnt 100% when he lit up OU in the first half? It was 8 days longer and his plant foot last year. I see no reason to think on his non plant foot he cant be 100% in 21 days.
No, I dont think he was at all. Oklahoma’s Defense wasnt good enough to expose that tho. I think its clear that against Clemson he was not 100%…..and he didnt get worse in between those 2 games.
Oklahoma’s D is no where as good as this year’s LSU D. LSU has speed and talent in the d-line and linebackers, they will blitz more than any other time this year. All it takes is for that ankle to move the wrong way and he is out…..and Tua knows that. Happened to both ankles now. I see Tua getting sacked at least 5 or 6 times, having his worst game of the year. Bama doesn’t have a stud at RB either to take over a game like in the past.
As long as he can protect himself and his #1 pick status, he should play.
We’re talking about competitive kids playing the highest level of competition that there is for this age.
You’d probably have to chain Tua to a tree or something to keep him from going out there.
Where exactly was it that Alabama said Tua was 100% healthy, Gary?
Sheesh.
According to Danielson:
“I watched Tua practice (Thursday), he’s not 100%. I don’t care what Alabama says…”
But Alabama says Tua’s playing will be a game-time decision. How is “game-time decision” claiming that he’s 100%?
It’s too bad that concussion protocol wasn’t a thing when Gary was getting slung around like a rag doll in the NFL.
Gary was probably watching a totally different team thinking he was watching Tua… maybe even a baseball game..
I’m surprised he got Tua’s name right
No one thinks he will 100% and no one cares what Gary D has to say now or any Saturday, Just saying
WARNING! LSU fans may want to mute the tv for this one. Danielson will have elephant juice running down his chin before the game even starts.
I just hate that Tua s ankle is all he will talk about when they have the ball.