Alabama Athletics
What Tua Tagovailoa Said at the Super Bowl About His Injury Recovery and the NFL Draft
University of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is down in Miami for the Super Bowl and making his way around press row for several interviews to talk about the 2020 NFL Draft and how he is recovering from his hip injury.
Earlier this morning, Tagovailoa was on FS1's "First Things First" and he opened up the interview with an update on his recovery process:
"I’m doing good. I’m fine," Tagovailoa said. “Up to this point, I think rehab has been going really great. We’re on pace for a full recovery. But I’m grateful that I got to experience both sides of the spectrum. I got to experience being at the top of the mountain where I felt like everything was just there for me. And then also just being in the peak of the valley, just being low.
"I just think it’s good, in a sense, because that’s just how life is. You learn when you’re successful, and then I think you learn more when you’re not as successful. You don’t take things for granted as much. You understand the maturity that comes with not winning. It comes with losing. It’s just life -- you win, you lose. You’ve got to move on. You’ve got to cope with it."
Tagovailoa expressed his concern over what is next in his road back to full health, a CT scan less than two weeks from now:
I think up to this point, what I’m most worried about is getting the CT scan done with our MRIs after the three-month mark, so it wouldn’t be this upcoming Monday but the following week,” Tagovailoa said. “And so once we kind of get a gauge on the healing process from there, then I think that’s when the doctors would be able to communicate with me and my family and tell us we’re going to be good or here’s things we need to be cautious about still.”
AL.com has reported that Tagovailoa will be healthy enough to throw 60-80 passes in front of NFL scouts, either at Alabama's Pro Day on March 24th or later on in April.
Tagovailoa revealed he will attend the NFL Combine on Feb. 27 - Mar. 1. He says his goal there will be to "win his medical."
"That’s why I think at the Combine, my main focus is to win my medical," Tagovailoa said. "That’s pretty much it. Everyone else is going to be there to win the 40, win the bench press. My main concern is to go over there and win my MRI, win my CT scan there.”
Just A Minute: Why the Key to Where Tua Tagovailoa Gets Drafted May be a Georgia Guy
In ESPN's Mel Kiper, Jr.'s latest mock draft, he has Tagovailoa going to the Miami Dolphins at No. 5 overall. When asked about what team he would prefer to draft him, the always humble Tagovailoa gave the answer you would expect him to give.
"All I can say is whatever team decides to pick me, they’re going to get someone who’s going to work hard,” Tagovailoa said, “Someone who’s going to be a leader for the team and who’s going to hopefully put the team in the best situation to become successful.”
