By the time Tua Tagovailoa steps on the field for the first time as an NFL quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, the hardest part of his journey may well have already passed. Such can only be the case when a talent faces seemingly insurmountable adversity — which is exactly what was cast into Tagovailoa’s lap with his devastating hip injury from last November. Long considered a top quarterback prospect and a slam dunk draft selection, Tagovailoa saw everything he’d worked for at Alabama put in danger with the injury to his hip.
And the way he’s responded to that adversity is exactly the expected response you’d want to see from an elite competitor. Tagovailoa has pulled himself back from the brink with commitment to the process and a tireless rehab schedule. It was considered a bit of an upset that he was even able to hold a throwing session in April ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft to help convince teams that he’s on the mend and will be fully functional for the long-haul.
And now, we’ve heard from the physical therapist that Tagovailoa has been working out with courtesy of Safid Deen of the Sun Sentinel. If the therapist, Kevin Wilk, is to be believed, Tagovailoa’s focus and commitment to his craft will have him set up to take the league by storm as a key member of the new-look Miami Dolphins.
“He’s doing miraculously well,” said Wilk via Deen. Wilk has been hosting and working with Tua at Champion Sports Medicine facility in Birmingham, Alabama this spring.
“The miraculous part is that he healed so well. The second part is, he’s been so well at getting his strength back, which usually takes a long time after something like this.”
Tagovailoa’s routine, as detailed by Deen, features prominent work and focus on his throwing shoulder (to keep it live during his time away from the field), both of his ankles (which he elected for an optional “tightrope” procedure to heal from sprains in order to return to the field quicker) and his hip (which suffered a dislocation against Mississippi State in November 2019). Between that rehab and Miami’s virtual offseason, Tagovailoa will have overcome waves of adversity well beyond that of your typical NFL rookie.
If he’s healthy, he may well make his case to start sooner rather than later. And, based on the early reviews of his rehab effort, we’re not sure we want to argue with him.