January 9th, 2017. It’s a Monday night and it’s also the final college football game of the year. The Alabama Crimson Tide were getting set to face an in-conference rival for the National Championship in the Georgia Bulldogs. The game was even in Atlanta, so it was a home game for the Bulldogs. Early on, Georgia was giving Alabama everything it could handle. Jalen Hurts was playing so poorly that Nick Saban decided to bench him. In comes a number two quarterback named Tua Tagovailoa. He leads the Tide back into the game and helps the school win their fifth national title in nine seasons giving Nick a ring for the thumb. Tua has taken the country by storm with his electric arm. Since becoming a starter, he’s been dealing with some ankle issues. Yesterday, the star quarterback was injured again and missed the rest of the game. He has a high ankle sprain and will miss a few games.
Tua is one of the three best quarterbacks in the country. For years, the formula for Alabama has been a strong running game, a consistent group of offensive linemen along with a quarterback who just had to manage the game to make sure he didn’t turn the ball over. Tua is a game-changer. He generates offense at a quick pace which results in six points each time for the Crimson Tide. Because of Tua, Alabama has had one of the best offenses in college football. The first thing I notice about him is he’s always moving. He’s a great escape artist that makes defensive tackles work to try to bring him down. He moves up and well in the pocket, he can move the pocket on the run to make a throw. He has a tremendous chemistry with his receivers and feels each time he throws the ball; his guy will come down with it and they normally do a large portion of the time. He’s such an accurate passer that hits his receiver in stride each time the football leaves his hands. If he doesn’t have an open receiver, he’s quick enough to scramble with the ball himself. He’s a very elusive player that can make a defense pay if you don’t pay close attention to him.
It’s a tough loss for the Crimson Tide, but I don’t think this hurts them moving forward. They’ll play what I call “Saban Ball” which is a heavy dose of the running game, using the tight end over the middle of the field and hopefully the defense will step it up because Tua has carried them. Sophomore Mac Jones will be under center for the team until number 13 is 100 percent again. Tua is expected to miss a game or two. I’m wishing him a speedy recovery.
