Alabama Football: Tua Tagovailoa must start in 2018

Alabama football switched quarterbacks midway through the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Here’s why Tua Tagovailo should keep the job.

More: Takeaways from Georgia’s win over Alabama in the CFB Playoff Championship Game

Nick Saban made what may have been the gutsiest decision of his collegiate coaching career on the biggest stage. He chose to bench his starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts, entering the second half of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. After playing in little more than mop up time this season, freshman Tua Tagovailoa was asked to mount a comeback against the Georgia Bulldogs.

He did it.

Alabama trailed Georgia 13-0 at half time and allowed an 80-yard touchdown pass from Jake Fromm to Mecole Hardman to fall behind 20-7 halfway through the third quarter. It was Tagovailoa that scored the touchdown that cut the lead to six and it was Tagovailoa that brought his team all the way back to even after coming perilously close to being out of contention midway through the game.

On Monday night, with the nation watching, Tua Tagovailoa became a legend. He propelled Nick Saban to his sixth national championship, his fifth with the Crimson Tide. His heroics on the nation’s biggest stage have earned him the claim to the starting job next season. Here are three reasons Saban needs to name Tagovailoa QB1 in 2018.