Tua Tagovailoa, the former University of Alabama quarterback who was invited to the NFL Draft. Combine last week, received a medical evaluation last weekend that his three-month CT scan was “as positive as possible” according to reporter Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.
Tagovailoa had surgery last November after dislocating his hip and suffering a posterior wall fracture in the first half of Alabama’s won over Mississippi State, an injury that eventually ended his college career. He told reporters at the Super Bowl earlier this month that he had been “close” to returning to Alabama but made the decision to enter the NFL Draft after consulting with his parents and doctors.
“The fracture has healed,” per the NFL Network report. “The hip and its range of motion (are) good.”
Tagovailoa indicated while at the Super Bowl in Miami that he did not expect to be cleared for football activities until March, a projection which remains the likely scenario per the report.
While Tagovailoa does not expect to do any football drills at the NFL combine, which will be held from February 24 to March 1, he could still attend to visit with teams and have medical and routine psychological testing. He has said he hopes to perform at least one pro day workout for NFL teams — probably in Tuscaloosa — in either late March or early April,
The NFL Draft begins on April 23 in Las Vegas. If Tagovailoa is chosen in the first round, as many mock drafts project, he would be Alabama’s first Round One quarterback selection since Richard Todd was the sixth overall pick by the New York Jets in the 1976 draft.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or via Twitter @cecilhurt
