Nick Saban had a great reaction to learning that Tua Tagovailoa had been named the Miami Dolphins’ starting quarterback this week.
Tagovailoa played at Alabama from 2017-2019. He helped the Crimson Tide win the national championship in his freshman season, was a Heisman Trophy finalist in his second, and then suffered a season-ending hip injury last year. The injury was believed to have affected Tagovailoa’s draft status, though the Miami Dolphins still took him No. 5 overall.
After six weeks of the current season, the Dolphins named Tua their starter. Saban was happy for his former QB.
“We’re always excited and happy for all of our players. They all have dreams of playing in the NFL some day. You’re really always happy and proud to see that come to fruition for them. Most guys don’t have to go through what Tua went through in terms of the adversity he had to overcome from the injury standpoint with the hip injury. But he worked hard, he’s back to 100 percent. I’m glad to see he’s getting some opportunity to play now. And I hope that that continues, and I hope he does very well,” Saban said.
Saban then praised Tagovailoa for being such a good representative of Alabama.
“We haven’t had anybody in this program since I’ve been here that’s been a better ambassador for the university, a better ambassador for the program, than Tua has been. Our thoughts and prayers are always with him, and we hope that he does extremely well. And it truly won’t surprise me if that’s the case.”
Tagovailoa saw his first NFL action at the end of the Dolphins’ Week 6 shutout win over the New York Jets. He tried his best to share the moment with his family, who could not be in attendance for the game. Now, the job is his, and there will be a whole bunch of Alabama fans supporting him.
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