Alabama football knew that Taulia Tagovailoa was going to transfer, but he has announced his destination. Lia will be playing for Maryland.
The Tagovailoa era at Alabama football has officially ended. After three years of Tua Tagovailoa scorching defenses on a regular basis, his brother has decided to transfer. After only a few days, he has announced via Twitter that he will be transferring to play for the Maryland Terrapins.
Maryland’s head coach has a relationship with Alabama football players. Mike Locksley was a longtime assistant with the Crimson Tide before becoming the offensive coordinator in Tua’s sophomore year. He moved on to be the head coach of Maryland before Taulia stepped onto campus as a true freshman.
Lia’s numbers were small in his freshman year as the third-string quarterback, but he has all of the potential in the world. He only threw twelve passes, but he had 100 yards and a touchdown on 75 percent completion.
Locksley’s offense in his first year at Maryland was successful. They scored 142 points in their first two games, but stalled as the season progressed into conference scheduling. The expectation is that the team will be better in Locksley’s second year, but this transfer makes the future promising as well. Maryland still has Ty Pigrome and Josh Jackson are both on roster for next year, so Tagovailoa will almost certainly burn his redshirt and not fight the one-year waiting period before he can see the field. Tagovailoa can sit this year, learn the offense perfectly, and come into 2021 as a third-year sophomore.
This decision was a bit surprising. Many expected that Tagovailoa would land at a school in the state of Florida after is brother was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. After all, his immediate family moved from Hawaii to Alabama to support Tua when he was in college.
This transfer won’t pan out for a while, but this is a perfect fit for both parties. Mike Locksley gets his quarterback of the future, and Taulia Tagovailoa gets to compete in the Power 5. Maryland fans will be hoping that Lia will be the team’s savior.
Alabama football fans are surely disappointed that Taulia Tagovailoa couldn’t make it work in Tuscaloosa, but they will be cheering him on as he hopes to take over the Big Ten.