OT: Tua injury ends his season, may be career-threatening
Tua Tagovailoa was badly injured in the first half against Mississippi State. This is unrelated to his ankle injury.
Comparisons are being made to Bo Jackson’s injury that ended his career. Even if it’s not the same, it could be very serious.
I don’t like Alabama and I tire of the endless hype they get, but Tua is a fabulous player, and this is horrible. Huge, devastating news for the sport.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
Hate to see this
November 16th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
I've never been totally sold on Tua. Yes, he's had great stats over he years but when your team is so dominating over opponents, you are never tested. I was looking forward to seeing him play good competition the next few weeks.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
Well he's the most accurate passer I've seen in a decade.......
November 16th, 2019 at 6:47 PM ^
A young man, barely an adult, might have just ended his career before earning a dollar, effectively depriving him and his family of tens of millions of dollars that he worked incredibly hard to put himself in a position to earn.
Definitely a classy time to inform us that you were never sold on him.
November 16th, 2019 at 9:44 PM ^
Well my guess is he has some sort of insurance plan, so yes all of this sucks. But he should get paid something if football is over.
November 16th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
If he can't come back, it'll cost him for sure. Hopefully, he has loss-of-draft-value insurance that the NCAA recommends for projected Top 10 picks.
NCAA insurance will cover Tagovailoa's medical bills. If he has loss-of-draft value insurance, that maxes out at $10 million, per industry standards. With Tagovailoa, we're talking about a possible $35 million payday if he were to have gone No. 1 overall. (That's what was available to the Cardinals in the rookie pool for 2019's overall No. 1 pick Kyler Murray.)
https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/insurance/loss-value-insurance-faqs
November 16th, 2019 at 10:21 PM ^
Alabama pays for the insurance for their players (or a booster does). It's probably not legal per the NCAA but they do it and the player can cash out even if they do not get injured and just fail to get drafted or sign to an NFL team. I assume the insurance company is run by a booster because it's not a great business model (however, since so many of their starters wind up on a team, depending how much the University pays for it it might be worth it).
I only know this because I know a former 'Bama starter who failed to make an NFL roster and received about a million bucks for it. The guy is a complete idiot—he clearly didn't learn anything in school—and has a lot of shiny toys but not much money left over.
While I'm sure Tua will be fine financially, it's still terrible for him. At the least he was going to be an NFL starter. I thought he had the potential to be really special. Hopefully he has something in his life he is passionate about other than football.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:17 PM ^
Oh man. God speed son
November 16th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
Saban is a scumbag. He got that kid hurt trying for style points in hopes of another CFP invite.
Fuck him.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
There are actually people saying you can't blame Saban for this. I say fuck that, who else do you blame for this? Tua had no business being in this game.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:24 PM ^
Wasn't it still the first half? Not many coaches would pull their QB that early.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:28 PM ^
There was like 2-mins left in the first half
November 16th, 2019 at 6:12 PM ^
Exactly why he was still playing. Nobody pulls their starting qb in the first half. People just want to pile on, because that's what we do now I guess.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:31 PM ^
He shouldn't have played at all.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
He shouldn't have played at all.
Why? He was cleared by the doctors to play. Why shouldn't he have played?
November 16th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
Because he was clearly still injured, and wasn't needed against a shitty Miss St team.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:54 PM ^
It's easy to type out comments on the internet.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
It was the 1st half. Of course the starting QB was in.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:34 PM ^
Tua had no business being in this game
How do you know?
November 16th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
Because he was hobbling the entire game a week ago, and this was an overmatched opponent. Why risk him?
November 16th, 2019 at 5:36 PM ^
It's easy to say that now.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
It was being said before this game.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:45 PM ^
Nothing unusual happened in playing him.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:14 PM ^
Other than sustaining a possibly career ending injury.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:39 PM ^
Style points, as mentioned above. But, this injury likely cost Bama any chance at the playoffs. Selection Committee will likely keep them at #5 at best.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:59 PM ^
Because the normal recovery for his ankle injury is 8 weeks. They rushed him back because of LSU, and his limited mobility did not allow him to escape today's injury.
This is entirely on Saban. He should not have been playing again until the bowl game, if at all.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^
This injury had absolutely nothing to due with what happened before.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
Do (sic) to the fact that it was previously an ankle injury?
November 16th, 2019 at 5:21 PM ^
He had an ankle injury that mildly affected his mobility, and threw for 400 yards against a great defense last week. Why wouldn’t he be playing in the first half?
November 16th, 2019 at 5:22 PM ^
If he had put in the second-stringer, and that second-stringer got hurt, would Saban be responsible for that injury too? There are a lot of reason to dislike Saban, but this is just a bad take.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:21 PM ^
If we have learned nothing else about college football in the last 2-3 years, we learned you don't play star starters in meaningless games, they have their prospective pro careers to protect.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:44 PM ^
Harbaugh didn't pull Shea late in the 4th up by 34, does that make him a scumbag?
November 16th, 2019 at 6:15 PM ^
It was a meaningless game against pond scum. He shouldn't have been on the field.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
They’re saying it’s similar to Bo Jackson’s hip injury. which we all know ended his football career. Feel very sorry for that young man
November 16th, 2019 at 5:37 PM ^
Jackson was a RB.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
No way!! Tua is a QB, who uses his mobility to move around the pocket and extend it.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:41 PM ^
And? Doesn’t matter what position he plays - the injury may cost him his football career.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:44 PM ^
A QB needs functional hips, especially a mobile one like Tua. Plus, try throwing a football with velocity without torquing the shit out of the hips.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^
The injury didn't end Jackson's career - missing arterial disruption to the femoral head did. The femoral head is particularly susceptible to avascular necrosis when its blood supply is compromised. Jackson's injury happened over 30 years ago - HIGHLY unlikely the physicians fixing Tagovailoa's hip will make the same mistake.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
See, there you go, being positive.
+1
November 16th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
I remember he was on the field after the game in which he was injured doing an interview. It was a playoff game and he said he planned on being available for next game.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:13 PM ^
That would be correct- Bo Jackson went on to develop avascular necrosis several weeks after his initial fracture, which is what later necessitated his total hip arthroplasty and ended his football career.
November 16th, 2019 at 6:36 PM ^
While the injury is similar doctors at the time didn't realize that Jackson was also suffering avascular necrosis until irreparable damage had been done to the bones of the hip joint. No telling if absent that additional damage Jackson would have fully recovered, but it certainly didn't help matters.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Should not have played him against an outmatched opponet. He was limping badly even after the LSU game.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:32 PM ^
Ankle was his previous injury, this was his hip. Freak play
November 16th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Top 10 pick off the draft board. Sad.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:19 PM ^
Really sucks for the kid. As corrupt as CFB & Alabama is, I don’t want to see any kid get an injury that could potentially mean millions in potential lost income for him.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:20 PM ^
Saban is a fucking fool for playing him and then keeping him in when the game was already over.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:21 PM ^
Wow, that really sucks. Poor kid. He is a great, great player. Seems like his body just can't hold up.
I did not see the hit - hope it wasn't dirty.
Feel bad for him. Geez, as I'm writing this a girl on the sidelines at the Auburn/UGA game got knocked out. Yikes. Rough day.
November 16th, 2019 at 5:34 PM ^
He was rolling to his left trying to extend the play looking for an open receiver with 2 Miss St players pursuing him. He then threw the ball away at the very last second as he was about to get sacked. He was tackled by both MSU defenders and one landed on top of him. It did not look like an extreme hit and was not at all dirty. Just a football play.