LSU quarterback Joe Burrow will be the No. 1 pick today when NFL teams make their annual selections, but be assured this firmly remains the Tua Tagovailoa Draft in all but official title.
It has pointed toward that distinction since January 2018 when a freshman from Ewa Beach introduced himself to the nation with aplomb by rallying Alabama with three second-half touchdown passes to an overtime victory over Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
In the process he instantly became just “Tua,” assuming a first-name familiarity with college football fans and NFL personnel officials alike.
From that moment, the presumptive NFL Draft stage belonged to Tagovailoa for 2020. We just didn’t know at the time was that there would not be, technically at least, a grand stage in Las Vegas due to COVID-19 and that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would, instead, be conducting the whole thing from the basement of his two story colonial in Bronxville, N.Y.
But some things have not changed even in this pandemic time, among them Tagovailoa’s talents and the considerable buzz that has surrounded him.
From the way that Tagovailoa took over the championship game and the skills he displayed in doing so, the expectation was that the Crimson Tide’s incumbent quarterback, Jalen Hurts, would be eventually moving on and Tagovailoa, after two seasons as the starter, would not be sticking around Tuscaloosa for a senior season. Both of which turned out to be correct.
Tagovailoa finished his career as college football’s most efficient passer, went 22-2 and authored 87 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.
The projection was that Tagovailoa would be the No. 1 pick this year, hence the “Tank for Tua” chant of some NFL fans from last fall. The No. 1 spot might well have been the case if not for the gruesome hip injury he suffered Nov. 16 at Mississippi State.
Without the injury and the surgeries that it prompted, the issue today for the Cincinnati Bengals would have likely been Burrow or Tagovailoa at No. 1?
Instead, depending on whether you are a true Tua believer or skeptical about his ability to stay healthy, the question is how high will he go or how far might he fall. And, to which team?
That he is even envisioned as a top-10 pick after the injury on top of past ankle and wrist surgeries is, in itself, remarkable.
With no other sports active as the NFL Draft has approached, Tagovailoa has become perhaps the most scrutinized pick in NFL history, fueling a debate that has kept the rumor mill spinning and talk shows buzzing for months. Oddsmakers at BetOnline list the over/under on his position in the first round at 5.5.
The absence of a pro day or workouts and exams for interested teams due to COVID-19 restrictions has only heightened the decibels. Meanwhile, Tagovailoa was sequestered for two months behind closed doors in Nashville, Tenn., with a “Rocky IV”-type training camp under former quarterback Trent Dilfer’s demanding tutelage. Tagovailoa’s agents have released video and medical records.
Still, the debate rages. “It would be irresponsible to take him in the top 10,” Mike Tannenbaum, a former Miami general manager, has said. The Dolphins have the fifth pick in the draft and are the most widely speculated destination for Tagovailoa.
Others have argued that Tagovailoa is a generational talent who you not only don’t bypass but trade up to get, if necessary.
It is the NFL’s Draft, but today, wherever he is drafted, Tagovailoa is its star.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
