When news broke that Taulia Tagovailoa had made the decision to transfer to Maryland, many fans were shocked, considering his older brother Tua had just been drafted to the Miami Dolphins and the Tagovailoa family seems to enjoy being together, considering the family moved from Hawaii to Alabama when Tua Tagovailoa moved to Tuscaloosa.
Many people assumed Taulia would transfer to a school in southern Florida such as FAU, FIU, and Miami, but he didn’t. Tagovailoa transferred to Maryland, and his father Galu Tagovailoa shared with AL.com why Taulia chose to transfer.
“It’s really tough and it’s nothing against Alabama. But my boys are competitive and Lia is such a competitive kid. And he wanted an opportunity to compete. He was told that he was going to come in and compete and he didn’t really get that opportunity, so he wanted to use the spring to do that. But with the COVID-19 thing going on, he didn’t really have the opportunity to compete. He’s a competitor. He likes to work. He likes to compete on the field. And just, going into the season this year, he just felt that he wasn’t given that opportunity and he wants to take it somewhere where they’re going to give him the opportunity to make the best of his skill set.”
And according to Galu, Maryland seemed to be the best fit for Taulia:
“He’s a player. This kid likes to play. He wants a chance to get on the field. He knew that him getting on the field this past season was just to hand off the ball and they didn’t really showcase him and who he is. He doesn’t fear competition. He just wants an opportunity to go out there and play. And the best place right now for him is Maryland.”
Maryland was also appealing largely because of the head coach, Mike Locksley, who was Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2018, and had the opportunity to coach Taulia’s older brother Tua.
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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