Tua Tagovailoa’s football journey has spanned the entire United States, starting in Hawai’i before leading him to Florida. However, before the Miami Dolphins made him the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Tagovailoa was ripping SEC defenses apart in the middle of the country.
Where Did Tua Tagovailoa Go to College?
Tagovailoa likely doesn’t remember a time before football, as his father, Galu, began Tua’s training at just two years old in Ewa Beach, Hawai’i. And while Tua is one of the few left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL and was the first drafted since Tim Tebow in 2010, he’s actually a natural righty.
In an interview that aired on ESPN’s “College GameDay” while Tagovailoa attended Alabama, he explained he writes and eats with his right hand, but his father forced him to switch to his non-dominant hand for football.
“Because I’m the only lefty in the family, I felt like, ‘OK, I’m gonna make my son a lefty,'” Galu said.
However, that was only the beginning of a strict regiment, as Galu was Tua’s biggest critic growing him.
“If I don’t perform well or I don’t perform the way I’m supposed to, I’m gonna get it after,” Tua said. When asked to explain what he meant by “get it,” Tagovailoa responded, “Just know that the belt was involved, and other things were involved as well. And it’s almost the same with school. If I don’t get this grade … I’m gonna have to suffer the consequences.”
Say what you will about Galu’s training style; it delivered results. Tua finished his three-year high school career with 8,158 passing yards (the most in Hawai’i high school football history at the time) and 84 passing touchdowns, adding another 1,727 yards and 27 scores on the ground.
But Galu wasn’t the only influential mentor figure in Tua’s football journey. Oregon legend and longtime NFL QB Marcus Mariota took Tagovailoa under his wing as the two grew up. The two first met at a passing camp when Tua was in fourth grade, with Mariota offering advice and encouragement.
“Everybody would kind of look at me different, but the one person who stood out was Marcus,” Tagovailoa told OregonLive in 2014. “He didn’t really separate me from everybody. He would teach me. While everyone else said, ‘Get out of the way,’ Marcus would just pull me aside — and he was one of the best quarterbacks there. Just to get taught by him and him giving me attention I didn’t deserve, it was just awesome.”
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While Mariota was beginning his career with the Tennessee Titans, Tagovailoa was torturing defenses at his old stomping grounds: St. Louis High School. Tua received Hawai’i Offensive Player of the Year and Player of the Year honors in 2015 before capturing the HHSAA District 1 State Championship as a senior. But he wasn’t done yet, as he earned MVP in Nike’s “The Opening” and the Elite 11 QB competition.
As you’d imagine, Tagovailoa was the unanimous No. 1 high school recruit in Hawai’i as a five-star prospect, garnering scholarship offers from several elite programs, including LSU, Oregon, and UCLA. However, while he envisioned himself playing in the Pac-12, possibly once again following in Mariota’s footsteps at Oregon, his father made the final decision.
“My father is the decision-maker within the family,” Tua said. “Whether I wanted to go to other schools or not, my dad had the final say with where I was going.”
As a result, Tagovailoa found himself in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in January 2017, gearing up for his true freshman season. While he served as the backup to Jalen Hurts, he still saw significant playing time due to several blowouts. However, Tua’s breakout moment came during the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship, when he replaced an ineffective Hurts in the second half against Georgia.
In a dramatic overtime victory, Tagovailoa threw a game-winning 41-yard TD to fellow freshman DeVonta Smith, sealing Alabama’s 26–23 victory. Tagovailoa’s performance, 14 of 24 passing for 166 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, earned him the game’s offensive MVP award.
In 2018, Tagovailoa won the starting job over Hurts, leading the Crimson Tide to an undefeated regular season. His exceptional play put Alabama in prime position for another national title run. However, in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, Tagovailoa suffered an ankle sprain. In a twist on the previous season’s national championship, Hurts came off the bench and rallied Alabama to a 35-28 win over the Bulldogs.
However, Tua was back in the starting lineup against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The game meant a bit more for the Hawaiian native, as Sooners QB Kyler Murray beat him out for the Heisman Trophy. All Tagovailoa did was deliver a near-flawless performance, completing 24 of 27 passes for 318 yards and four TDs, propelling Alabama to its fourth consecutive CFP National Championship appearance.
Unfortunately, Tagovailoa’s stellar 2018 season concluded with a disappointing loss in the natty, where Alabama fell 44-16 to Clemson. Despite the defeat, Tagovailoa set a new school record for passing yards in a season with 3,966, and his 48 total touchdowns led the SEC. His dominance was all the more impressive, considering he often sat out in the second half of games as Alabama blew out its opponents.
In 2019, Tagovailoa’s journey took a difficult turn. Early in the Crimson Tide’s game against Tennessee, he suffered a high ankle sprain and underwent surgery the following day. He returned just three weeks later to face LSU, though Alabama narrowly lost 46-41. Then, disaster struck again.
Against Mississippi State, Tagovailoa took a hit that could’ve ended his career.
During a sack, his knee was driven into the ground, dislocating his hip and fracturing the posterior wall. But the bodily trauma didn’t end there, as Tua suffered a broken nose and a concussion from the force of his head hitting the ground.
He was immediately carted off the field and flown to a hospital before undergoing surgery. Dr. Louis Levitt, an orthopedic expert, compared the force of the injury to those seen in car accidents when speaking with CBS Sports:
“The problem is we, as a lay public, don’t really know the extent of his injury. The injury itself is one of the few true orthopedic emergencies … It takes enormous force to dislocate a hip in a young player like this. This is usually automobile accidents driving the leg into the socket and then out of the socket.”
Despite the injury and following successful surgery, Tagovailoa declared for the NFL Draft, forgoing his senior year. He left Alabama holding several schools and NCAA records, including the highest career passer rating (199.4) and yards per attempt (10.9).
Tua’s time at Alabama was marked by brilliance on the field but also marred by injury, leaving a legacy that blended immense talent with resilience in the face of adversity.
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