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College Basketball: Auburn, San Diego St. on the rise

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Clemson, LSU backs proving they belong

<p>TUSCALOOSA, Ala. &#8212; Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa put an end to the initial question about his future, announcing Monday that he is entering the NFL draft and closing the book on a college career that began with a splash and ended with a devastating injury.</p><p>Now the questions will be about where he&#8217;ll be drafted not if he would turn pro.</p><p>Tagovailoa is recovering from right hip surgery in November following an injury on Nov. 16 against Mississippi State that ended projections of the start quarterback being the potential No. 1 overall pick. The serious injury made has made his draft status less clear though Alabama team surgeon Dr. Lyle Cain has said Tagovailoa&#8217;s prognosis is &#8220;excellent&#8221; and predicts a full recovery.</p><p>Tagovailoa said during a news conference that he&#8217;s optimistic he&#8217;ll be able to play next season, but said it&#8217;s hard to predict how high he&#8217;ll be drafted.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a unique situation, for sure,&#8221; Tagovailoa said with his parents and little brother, Taulia, watching from the front row. &#8220;A lot of the guys, the general managers, the owners, that I&#8217;ve talked to kind of said the same thing. They kind of look at this injury like a knee injury almost, although it&#8217;s not. In a way that, OK, are we going to take a chance on this guy or will he be able to possibly do a pro day before the draft and what-not?</p><p>&#8220;Really, the biggest thing they want to do is just see that we can move and we can just be back to how we were playing prior to the injury.&#8221;</p><p>This year&#8217;s draft class of quarterbacks includes LSU Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and Oregon&#8217;s Justin Herbert. If Tagovailoa had returned to Alabama and looked like his old self, there was still no guarantee he would be the top pick in a 2021 draft that will likely include Clemson&#8217;s Trevor Lawrence.</p><p>Tagovailoa, the 2018 Heisman Trophy runner-up, helped Alabama navigate the transition into one of the nation&#8217;s top passing offenses. In less than two seasons as starter, he set an Alabama record with 87 career touchdown passes and ranks third with 7,442 passing yards.</p><p>He was regarded as one of the top Heisman candidates again before the season-ending injury. In his absence, Alabama lost to rival Auburn and failed to make the College Football Playoffs for the first time.</p><p>&#8220;Tua has probably had as much of an impact on our program here as any player that we&#8217;ve ever had,&#8221; Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said. &#8220;And I&#8217;m not just talking about as a football player. He&#8217;s got great character. He&#8217;s a great leader. He&#8217;s done a wonderful job in the classroom.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a spirit about him that has impacted myself and everybody around him in a very, very positive way.&#8221;</p><p>Tagovailoa, who went to New York to have his hip examined over the weekend, acknowledged the uncertainty of his draft status. He&#8217;ll continue to rehab in Tuscaloosa.</p><p>Tagovailoa demurred when asked if he felt confident he&#8217;d still be a high first-round pick.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think I can tell you that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think any of the teams can tell you that. It really depends on how the doctors&#8217; report goes with the MRI and my X-rays at the three-month mark (from the injury).</p><p>&#8220;But then again, I think what factors into this decision, too, is our faith. It&#8217;s a leap of it.&#8221;</p><p>Tagovailoa also had other injury issues during his career. He left the Southeastern Conference championship game as a sophomore with an ankle injury and missed the second half of the Tennessee game and the Arkansas game with a high ankle sprain.</p><p>He returned to throw for 418 yards and four touchdowns in a loss to No. 1 LSU and was injured late in the first half of the next game.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s been a roller coaster because I&#8217;ve gotten to see the spectrum of both sides, having a lot of success, winning a national championship, losing a national championship,&#8221; Tagovailoa said. &#8220;Going through adversity, coming back from it, continuing to go through it. It&#8217;s just been a mixture of emotions.</p><p>&#8220;I think coming to a place like this has helped set me up to be in the best position to become successful later in life.&#8221;</p><p>The left-handed passer from Hawaii became one of Alabama&#8217;s most prolific passers, and most popular players. Tagovailoa became a sensation in the national championship game two years ago. The freshman came off the bench to lead the Crimson Tide to a comeback win over Georgia, throwing the game-winning touchdown to DeVonta Smith in overtime.</p><p>He then beat out two-year starter Jalen Hurts for the starting job. After the season, Hurts transferred to Oklahoma and was the Heisman runner-up while leading the Sooners into the playoffs.</p><p>But it had become Tua&#8217;s team well before that. Now, Alabama begins a search for his successor who can keep the program in national title contention.</p><p>Mac Jones started the final two regular season games and the Citrus Bowl against Michigan. He passed for 1,503 yards and 14 touchdowns against just three interceptions.</p><p>He finished with a big bowl performance, passing for 327 yards and three touchdowns in the Western Carolina and Auburn in a 35-16 win.</p><p>Jones could face competition from freshman Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua&#8217;s younger brother, and incoming five-star recruit Bryce Young.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announces his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124278945-c9f70821212046f98025d7aaf33019d6.jpg</photo0><caption0>Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announces his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124278945-486a40420ceb4586b9e7fd6d17e60000.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announces his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124278945-486a40420ceb4586b9e7fd6d17e60000.jpg</photo1><caption1>Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa announces his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124278945-2e96d0d35f1949f1845c440b711e5fee.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa waits to be introduced prior to announcing his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft Monday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_124278945-2e96d0d35f1949f1845c440b711e5fee.jpg</photo2><caption2>Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa waits to be introduced prior to announcing his intentions to declare for the 2020 NFL football draft Monday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. </caption2><photoCredit2>AP photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Zenor</p><p>AP Sports Writer</p></bylineMeta></div>

Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa says he is entering 2020 NFL draft