Mike Locksley was in the middle of his Instagram Live show Friday night when he found out that Taulia Tagovailoa would be coming to play for him in Maryland. He was surprised nonetheless that Tagovailoa had chose Maryland over other schools including Miami, FAU, and FIU.
“As I’m in the middle of the show, which starts at 7 o’clock Eastern time here, I just know my phone started blowing up and buzzing and buzzing and buzzing,” Locksley, who was Tua’s offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2018, told AL.com. “So I looked down and saw I had a missed call from an 808 (Hawaii) number. And then I was finishing my show and by the time I finished the show, probably around 7:35 or 7:40, my phone had just blown up that Taulia had said he was coming to Maryland. So I called him back and he said, ‘Hey Coach, as a family we’ve prayed about it and I’m coming to Maryland.’”
But there’s one thing in particular about Locksley that sticks out: he knows not to compare Taulia to his older brother Tua. Afterall, Locksley coached Tua when he was offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide in 2018.
But still, Locksley knows that Tualia has his own skillset and talent:
“To even begin comparing him to Tua, I would never do that,” Locksley said of Taulia, who threw for 3,728 yards and 35 touchdowns while leading Thompson High School to the Alabama Class 7A state championship game in 2018. “That’s obviously a tough, tough deal being the younger brother of a quarterback like Tua. But I do know this, at Thompson High School he put up a lot of numbers, threw the ball really accurately, has great athleticism in the pocket and is a winner. His accuracy is really what kind of jumps out to me as a passer.”
Sure, Tua Tagovailoa will go down in history as being one of the best Alabama quarterbacks of all time, but that doesn’t mean Taulia isn’t capable of making a name for himself as well.
After all, Taulia was rated as the No. 4 pro-style quarterback in the 2019 class by 247Sports and PrepStar.
Taulia also became the only quarterback in Alabama state history to have at least four 400-yard passing performances in his career, throwing for 3,728 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior at Thompson High School. Tagovailoa also led Thompson to the 2018 Class 7A state championship and was selected to the Class 7A All-State first team in 2017.
Taulia saw limited action in Tuscaloosa for the Crimson Tide. He recorded 9 passes for 100 yards and 1 TD. He only played in 3 games in 2019: against Western Carolina, Arkansas, and Southern Mississippi.
But Taulia is extremely talented and has so much potential, and Mike Locksley can help him. Considering he’s coached Tua Tagovailoa, Mike has an edge that every other coach doesn’t.
Maryland released a statement that said, “Tua Tagovailoa threw for 3,189 yards and a school-record 37 touchdowns as the Crimson Tide offense averaged 47.9 points and 527.6 yards per game. The Locksley-Tua Tagovailoa combination helped Alabama set school records for points scored (623), single-season total offense (6,859 yards) and passing yards (4,231) in a season.”
It’s true. And if Locksley can help Taulia find his own unique skillset, Maryland could become a team to keep an eye out for.
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