Tua Tagovailoa is leaving Alabama and will declare for the NFL Draft.
This isn't really surprising news. The Tide's star quarterback is expected to be a solid draft pick despite his injury woes, and to stay at Alabama would be to leave millions on the table in the short term. And if he were to have a career-ending injury in college, it would be the end of his NFL dreams altogether. It just made sense to enter the NFL Draft.
Tagovailoa will be remembered among the best to ever play the game for the Tide. In his press conference today, Tua was said he was proud to have attended Alabama. He'll stay close to the program, of course, but for now the focus is on his injury rehab. And he'll stay in Tuscaloosa during that process. He tells us that everything looks good right now, but he and his doctors will likely know a lot more at the 3-4 month mark (since the injury), which would be another month or so from now.
Check out the press conference below, from al.com's Facebook page. Move ahead to just past the 9:30 mark to watch.