Nick Saban, Alabama Football Players Reflect on Tua Tagovailoa

Exactly one year ago to the day on Monday, Alabama experienced one of its biggest losses in recent memory.

It wasn't a game. It wasn't a last-second comeback by a rival. It was the loss of a player.

It was on this day in 2019 that quarterback Tua Tagovailoa fell down awkwardly on his hip at Mississippi State, dislocating and fracturing it and thus giving his fantastic career at Alabama a premature exit and shocking the college football world.

The rise, fall and comeback of Tagovailoa is no news to anyone who watches college football. Following his injury, Tagovailoa recovered in almost miraculous time, declaring for the NFL draft and being taken fifth overall by the Miami Dolphins.

Three games ago, Tagovailoa got his first start with the Dolphins. Now 3-0 as a starter in Miami, things have never looked brighter for the Crimson Tide athlete that many were worried could possibly never play football again.

Alabama coach Nick Saban — who over the past few weeks has said that he hasn't had time to watch Tagovailoa on Sundays — admitted on Monday that due to the Crimson Tide's game against LSU being cancelled he had been able to finally watch his former signal caller play.

Needless to say, a proud Saban said that he thought he had played well.

"I actually got to watch him play yesterday for the first time," Saban said in his weekly virtual Monday press conference. "I thought he played really well. I was really proud of him. Made some really good throws. Led the team to victory. Moving them down the field, answered the bell when they needed to in the fourth quarter. Always makes me proud for every player we have in the NFL to see them do well and that’s what the program’s all about: trying to help these guys improve and fulfill their dreams of what they want to do in the future on and off the field.

"It’s always very self-fulfilling to see guys having success doing that."

Saban wasn't the only person reflecting on Tagovailoa's progression, though. Alabama tight end Miller Forristall and defensive lineman D.J. Dale also reflected on their time with the young Heisman runner-up.

Dale started the players off by expressing his pride in Tagovailoa, just like his head coach.

“I’m so proud of him," Dale said. "He came a long way. His story and his journey has been amazing, like I remember that. I think I got hurt the same game. It’s just like seeing him go down like that and see where he’s at now. How he bounced back, it’s incredible.”

Hearing Tagovailoa's former coach and teammates express their genuine pride in his ability to come back and still make such an impact speaks to the nature and character of the young Hawaiian. While he still has many years of football ahead of him, it's clear just how much of an impression he left on the Crimson Tide program.

Forristall stated that seeing players come back from injury is always encouraging, but that seeing Tagovailoa in particular recover inspires him.

“I mean that’s so awesome," Forristall said. "Any time — especially when it’s one of our guys — you see them persevere through an injury it hits home close to me. Especially when you see guys like Shaun Dion [Hamilton] that it happened to and now where he is. Now you got Tua at 3-0 with the Dolphins playing really good football.

"It says a lot about the type of guys that come out of this place. That they persevere, continue to work and I’m so happy for him.”