What Clemson’s Dabo Swinney said about Tua Tagovailoa injury for Alabama
If Alabama ends up playing Clemson in the College Football Playoff for a fifth consecutive season, the Crimson Tide will do so without star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
The junior was injured Saturday against Mississippi State and will miss the remainder of the season.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, whose Tigers faced Tagovailoa in last year’s national title game, reacted to the news after the Tigers’ win against Wake Forest.
“Obviously that’s a big loss for them. It’s a big loss for college football, because Tua, he’s a special player,” Swinney said. “You hate to play against him, but you have great respect for guys that you know do things the right way. He’s just the epitome of a winner. Just a great winner. I hate that for him, but I’m sure they’ve got great doctors and he’ll bounce back.
“It won’t be the last time you see Tua.”
Tagovailoa watched from the sideline when Alabama beat Clemson in a College Football Playoff semifinal his freshman season before leading the Crimson Tide past Georgia in the national title game later that year.
Tagovailoa and the Alabama offense struggled against Clemson in last year’s 44-16 loss. He passed for 295 yards and two touchdowns but also threw a couple of costly interceptions, including a pick-six.
Still, Tagovailoa has had an incredible year and battled through injuries this season to complete 71 percent of his passes for 2,584 yards, with 31 touchdowns and three interceptions.
“He’s one of the best competitors, one of the best young people in the game, in college football,” Swinney said. “He’s a great human being first. He’s a great quarterback. I think he’s a great teammate. He’s an unbelievable competitor, has a great heart. You see his passion in the way he plays.”
Here’s The Associated Press’ report on the injury:
Tagovailoa was injured while being dragged down late in the first half, with the Tide up four touchdowns, and No. 4 Alabama went on to beat Mississippi State 38-7 Saturday in a game that might have cost the Crimson Tide one of the best players in college football.
Tagovailoa was tackled from behind by Bulldogs linebacker Leo Lewis. Tagovailoa’s helmet came off and he stayed down on the ground for several minutes as Alabama medical staff attended to him. He needed help getting to his feet and was carted off the field with 3:01 left in the second quarter. He also had a bloody nose.
“He has a hip injury. It’s going to be evaluated. I don’t think it’s related to any other injury that he has,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It’s kind of a freak thing that you seldom see. So, I don’t really have anything else to say about that, and we’ll kind of go from there.”
Tagovailoa had been nursing an ankle injury and Alabama was considering holding him out of this game.
“We can second guess ourselves all we want,” Saban said. “I really don’t make decisions based on players getting hurt.”
