This one probably stings, Trojan Nation. Again.
A short time after Alabama won the 2017 national championship, with true freshman Tua Tagovailoa riding to the second-half rescue, Lane Kiffin claimed during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show that “people that really know what’s going on would tell you that Tua was leaving” if he hadn’t played in that title game against Georgia. In May of last year, during an appearance at his old junior high school in Hawaii, Tagovailoa left no doubt that post-title game Kiffin’s claims were absolutely correct.
“Even throughout [the 2017] football season, I wasn’t the starter,” Tagovailoa told the middle schoolers at the time. “I wanted to leave [Alabama]. So I told myself if I didn’t play in the last game, which was the national championship game, I would transfer out.”
At the time, Tagovailoa also stated that he had his father check out the situation at USC to see “if my offer... was still available.”
Tagovailoa, of course, stayed in Tuscaloosa and led the Crimson Tide to another College Football Playoff championship game in 2018. During an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show Wednesday, however, the quarterback acknowledged that, during the time he was contemplating a move away from ‘Bama, he was “really close” to transferring to USC.
“It was really close, I think,” Tagovailoa said when asked how close he was to transferring to the Trojans. “I wanted my parents to see me play, my parents wanted to see me play. Just doing things for my parents, ya know, making my parents happy and proud was probably the biggest thing I wanted to do. And I couldn’t do it on the sidelines.”
What could have been…Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa says he was “really close” to transferring to USC when he wasn’t playing at 'Bama pic.twitter.com/sadX4iB70C
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 25, 2019
The junior’s parents moved from Hawaii to be near their son in Alabama after he signed with the Tide in 2017. His younger brother Taulia Tagovailoa, also a quarterback, signed with the Crimson Tide as part of their 2019 recruiting class.
Tagovailoa ended up winning the starting job prior to the start of the 2018 season, which triggered two-year starter Jalen Hurts to transfer and ultimately move on to Oklahoma. This season, Tagovailoa has thrown 17 touchdowns and zero interceptions in 112 pass attempts, and his 225.3 passer rating is third behind LSU’s Joe Burrow‘s 225.6 and... Hurts’ 250.2,