Around the Alabama football team these past few days, players have taken to social media to announce their plans to either leave for the NFL or return for another season with the Crimson Tide.

But, as head coach Nick Saban grandly stated Monday, “I think it is fitting that a guy who has had such an impact on our program and on college football, that we have a press conference here …”

Then he turned over what has been his personal podium to Tua Tagovailoa, who announced eligibility for the April NFL Draft.

Fitting indeed, since just two days short of two years earlier, Saban had turned over his team, and its rapidly fading chances for the 2017 national championship, to Tagovailoa, a then seldom-used freshman backup from Ewa Beach.

What Tagovailoa did with his pinpoint passing acumen, rallying Alabama in the second half to a dramatic 26-23 College Football Playoff national championship victory over Georgia, changed Crimson Tide football and rewrote much of its record book.

These days the Crimson Tide faithful, and you’d have to say even college football, are on a first-name basis with the one they call, simply, “Tua,” which is why ESPN and others carried Monday’s announcement live.

For the first player from Hawaii to accept a football scholarship to Alabama on a 4,323-mile odyssey directly out of high school, it symbolized a sendoff to another, more complex, unknown for Tagovailoa. Now, this journey to the pros rests on two rebuilt ankles, a seven-week-old surgically repaired right hip and, as Tagovailoa reminded us several times, “lots of prayers, thought and guidance.” He added, “It pretty much boils down to one thing, and I think that’s faith.”

The 21-year-old Saint Louis School graduate told reporters, “I think this is the best thing for me and my family to do,” adding, “I have had a difficult time making this (decision) about my future. My love for the University of Alabama, our coaches, our fans and my teammates has made this especially hard for me.”

Saban parted with the school’s all-time passing touchdown leader saying, “There is a wonderful spirit about him that has impacted myself and everybody around him in a very, very positive way. He’s had great accomplishments on the field (22-2 record), but you probably don’t fully understand the significance of the contributions he has made off the field with his teammates and the people who are around him every day, and the unbelievable positive spirit.”

Tagovailoa made it to the podium Monday unaided by the single crutch that accompanied him on the sidelines at the Citrus Bowl, and how well the rehab progresses in the next three months will have a lot to say about where he is drafted and how high the accompanying stack of money turns out to be.

As recently as Friday, before he met with doctors in New York, according to multiple reports, Tagovailoa was said to have been considering returning to Alabama. But “from what they have seen in New York, everything looks good (with the hip),” Tagovailoa said Monday. “But, you can’t really tell until the three-month or the four-month mark. That’s the gauge on all that.”

What he does in the glare of NFL Combine in Indianapolis starting Feb. 23 might be less important than what he is able to display in early April followups and exams.

Even before Tagovailoa ritually presses his hands and cleats into cement under the Denny Chimes on the Alabama campus, befitting his status as a “permanent team captain,” he has left his mark with the Crimson Tide.

And, now, he sets out on the challenge of making one in the NFL.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.