Saturday Blitz
Fansided

College football’s 10 most intriguing transfers to watch in 2020

By Jasper Jones III

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans reacts after a stop on third down by the UCLA Bruins defense during the first half at Rose Bowl on November 17, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 17: JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans reacts after a stop on third down by the UCLA Bruins defense during the first half at Rose Bowl on November 17, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 11
Next
Alabama football
Tauloa Tagovailoa, Alabama football (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

This one comes with a massive asterisk because there’s a good chance we won’t see him play this fall thanks to the Big Ten postponing its 2020 season.

The brother of former star Alabama quarterback and first-round draft pick Tua Tagovailoa, Taulia Tagovailoa is in a very different situation.

A week before he informed head coach Mike Locksley of his decision to transfer to Maryland, Taulia had to make a difficult phone call to a different head coach. And not just any head coach.

He had to call Nick Saban.

It’s never easy telling your legendary coach that you decided to move on from his program especially with the history that Saban has with his family who all made the move down to Tuscaloosa for Tua’s tenure at Alabama,

The reason Taulia gave for leaving Alabama is that he felt like he didn’t get the proper opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback position. After his brother went down with a season-ending injury last year, instead of going to Taulia, Saban went with the more experienced Mac Jones.

Here is a quote from Taulia’s dad, Galu that expresses his son’s mindset into why he ultimately made the decision when speaking to AL.com.

"“My boys are competitive and Lia is such a competitive kid. And he wanted an opportunity to compete. He was told that he was going to come in and compete and he didn’t really get that opportunity, so he wanted to use the spring to do that. But with the COVID-19 thing going on, he didn’t really have the opportunity to compete. He’s a competitor. He likes to work. He likes to compete on the field. And just, going into the season this year, he just felt that he wasn’t given that opportunity and he wants to take it somewhere where they’re going to give him the opportunity to make the best of his skill set.”"

Locksey played a big role in Taulia’s recruitment to Alabama and was the offensive coordinator in Tuscaloosa in 2018 and runs a system at Maryland that is similar to what the Crimson Tide ran during Tua’s Heisman finalist season.

Can we expect to see a breakout season similar to his brothers?

Home/College Football News