2. Tua Tagovailoa wins the Heisman Trophy
An injury and an ineffective performance in the SEC Championship Game cost Tagovailoa what seemed like a sure Heisman Trophy in 2018. He was the leader of the pack for the entire season, dazzling fans with his performance against Louisville in Orlando to open the season, and throwing 25 touchdowns before surrendering a single interception.
While he was the runner-up to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray, and his game has been nit-picked since the Clemson loss, it’s also important to remember just how great Tagovailoa was last season. He finished the year with the highest passer efficiency rating in college football history. He threw for just shy of 4,000 yards with 43 touchdowns and only six interceptions. If it wasn’t for his ability to carve up defenses, Alabama wouldn’t have been a playoff team with its defensive struggles last season.
No, he didn’t look great during the A-Day game, but plenty of quarterbacks, including Clemson’s Lawrence, struggled during spring games. You know why? Because it almost always goes like that when you are facing a defense familiar with your style of play and running an offense that is being as vanilla as possible so as not to tip its hand for the upcoming season.
I feel good about packaging this with bold prediction No. 4. If four comes true, then two probably will too. If Alabama has two, or even three, 1,000-plus yard receivers next season, that will point to a prolific campaign from Tagovailoa as he once again carves up opposing defenses and leads Alabama to dominant victories.
His pinpoint accuracy is tough to combat, particularly with an offensive line that should also be among the best units in college football. When given time to throw, he’s an absolute assassin, and he’s got a talented and deep receiving corps that is licking their chops to get the opportunity to catch footballs from him once again.
I’m imagining something around 4,300 passing yards and 45-50 touchdowns for Tagovailoa next season as he rewrites the record books at Alabama and captures a Heisman Trophy that some thought he deserved last season. The Heisman ceremony won’t be the highlight of his 2019 season, though.