Tua Tagovailoa didn’t participate in Alabama’s second scrimmage of the spring Saturday due to a hand issue that he sustained when practice opened in March. The sophomore quarterback had subsequent surgery on the hand and participated last Saturday’s scrimmage.
“You know, Tua had a little setback yesterday with his hand,” UA coach Nick Saban said. “Doctors are trying to evaluate the best course of action and what we do with him the remainder of spring. That said, I can’t really tell you any more. He didn’t take any snaps today. He did take a lot of snaps yesterday. We’re going to try to protect this and make sure that this thing is not going to be an issue for him in the fall.”
The team has two practices next week before next Saturday’s annual A-Day game, which will be televised on ESPN.
The team has two practices next week before next Saturday’s annual A-Day game, which will be televised on ESPN. It’s unknown if Tagovailoa will be available to play.
If Tagovailoa misses the remainder of spring, it puts the Crimson Tide down to scholarship quarterbacks in two-year starter Jalen Hurts and redshirt freshman Mac Jones.
Tagovailoa’s injury has hampered the quarterback competition between Hurts and Tagovailoa. It was Tagovailoa who entered the national championship game in the second half, replacing Hurts, leading a much-heralded comeback.
Saban said Hurts is working on improving his passing this spring.
Jalen has done, I think (he’s) has had a really good spring from the standpoint that we’e really tried to focus on continuing to help him develop confidence in the passing game,” Saban said. “He is showing signs of being able to do that and we want to continue to work on that, but he’s done a really good job. I think sometimes you can’t just think about making plays. You have to make plays based on how they’re designed and have some faith, trust and confidence in the people that are playing with you. That if you go through your progression that that’s going to give us the best chance to be able to make some explosive plays in the passing game. And when it breaks down then you use your athletic ability to make up for it. I think he’s done much better at that this spring.”
No statistics were released Saturday.
Mac Jones
If Tagovailoa is done for the spring, it would increase the repetitions for Jones, who would play with the second-team offense in the spring game. Jones was a four-star signee in the 2017 recruiting class.
“I think Mac had made a lot of improvement,” Saban said. “He’s a guy that has to mature in terms of… He’s very competitive. When you’re the quarterback, how does what I’m doing affect my unit? So when things don’t go well, you can’t always show your emotions, show your disappointment. You have to be positive, like ‘We’re going to get them on the next play.’ That’s a part of his leadership we have to continue to work on. But he’s made more and more good plays. We feel really good about his development. We’re just trying to get him to focus on being the best player that he can be. Because he’s going to be in position this year where he’s not going to be far away from having to play.”
Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.
