🏈 Tua wanted to transfer

[Tidestalker]

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"Even throughout my football season, I wasn't the starter," Tagovailoa told the students, according to Hawaii News Now. "I wanted to leave the school. So I told myself, if I didn't play in the last game, which was the national championship game, I would transfer out. If I gave in, I don't think I would have seen the end blessing of where I am now."

The day after the championship game, former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said 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, and played well in the game.
"Because Tua thought that he should be the starting quarterback and had outperformed (Hurts) in practice and coach (Nick Saban) never gave him an opportunity," Kiffin said.

"I called my dad and asked him if my offer to the University of Southern California was still available," Tagovailoa told the students. "I wanted to leave. I told my dad I wanted to go to a school where I thought it'd be easier for me and wouldn't challenge me so much.

Tagovailoa pondered transfer before title game

 

[Tidestalker]

Welp, from the horses mouth... I know a lot of folks on here were coming down on Kiffin because he said his piece on Tua. But it turns out he was pretty damn accurate.

Credit to Tua for saying the right things publicly and putting on a strong front... Kid has a ton of character. But the real question is - How did Saban come that close to losing Tua for good? Looking back and knowing what a gamer the kid is, and how mightly Jalen struggled, having Tua rotting away on the bench is head scratching at best.

It appears to have worked out now barring another personnel debacle. RTR

 

[TUSKtimes]

Context is a lot of what is said and here is the interview in his native state.

hawaii news now...-title-at-bama

 

[kbama15]

I could be wrong but, I believe Jalen is the one leaving. I hope he stays, but, with the talent coming in just don't see it. You can be friends, brothers, and be very supportive of each other.but,at the end of the day you have a team to think about and not just one. JMO.

 

[TerryP]

Context is a lot of what is said

Easily could have been a piece focusing on role models encouraging perseverance in today's kids.

Another small irony here...we're just a few weeks removed from a video being released where Derrick Henry talked about transferring his freshman year as well.

 

[planomateo]

Funny how the titles of the articles change. Tua's message to the kids was don't quit during tough times and persevere, but this wasn't captured in ESPN's title. Hell it was barely address in the article. I don't see who wrote the article, perhaps it's an AP article.

ESPiN's = Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa says he would have transferred if he didn't play in title game
HawaiiNewsNow = 'I wanted to leave': Tagovailoa says family helped him persevere to National Title with Bama

A ~5 min interview after his speech at the school can be found at the link below.

'I wanted to leave': Tagovailoa says encouragement from family helped him persevere to National Title at 'Bama

 

[50+yeartidefan]

Well.....not playing in AU game and then not playing vs Clemson....with JH struggling....I kinda dont blame him....thats 10 quarters of mediocrity at QB...
D carrying load.... just NS not wanting a QB controversy

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

I could be wrong but, I believe Jalen is the one leaving. I hope he stays, but, with the talent coming in just don't see it. You can be friends, brothers, and be very supportive of each other.but,at the end of the day you have a team to think about and not just one. JMO.

Ed Zackery. It is possible we will learn in the next couple of weeks what the plans are for #2. His time away from TitleTown should give him and his father a chance to compare notes and make a decision.

 

[Tidestalker]

I think it's pretty clear he WANTED to leave. Whether his parents would have let him or not is another question...

If you read the article it goes on to say his dad was "initially" against it.... I'm not an engilish major, but to me that means at some point he was probably more open to it.

Ultimately though, Kiffin was disparaged quite a bit for saying what he said but it was very accurate. I don't think it was his turn to say it, but it was true. And ultimately, after seeing Jalen play, it's obvious why it was true. He should have wanted to leave if not given the opportunity.

 

[TUSKtimes]

Ultimately though, Kiffin was disparaged quite a bit for saying what he said but it was very accurate. I don't think it was his turn to say it, but it was true. And ultimately, after seeing Jalen play, it's obvious why it was true. He should have wanted to leave if not given the opportunity.

What is this thing with Kiffin? I've read about a lot of ballplayers their first year at the Capstone being disillusioned about playing time, homesickness, whatever. In most cases, by the time it gets to us, they give their story after they stuck it out and have found their way. You got me wondering why Kiffin needs to be exonerated here. As a head coach at FAU, I do sometimes wonder what is so fascinating about a former place with all these everyday things that go on with the program. Then I think about his maturity level and it's just a reminder that this is why he was asked to leave.

So he has Bama connections, so what? So did Smart and now Pruitt. They both act like they got more important things to do.

 

[PhillyGirl]

So he's actually wanted to transfer twice now; over not starting earlier in the season (and then dad convinced him to stay and shake that mindset) and then back to feeling that way again as the season wore on.

Wasn't there a rumor about him going to UCLA?

 

[Tidestalker]

Ultimately though, Kiffin was disparaged quite a bit for saying what he said but it was very accurate. I don't think it was his turn to say it, but it was true. And ultimately, after seeing Jalen play, it's obvious why it was true. He should have wanted to leave if not given the opportunity.

What is this thing with Kiffin? I've read about a lot of ballplayers their first year at the Capstone being disillusioned about playing time, homesickness, whatever. In most cases, by the time it gets to us, they give their story after they stuck it out and have found their way. You got me wondering why Kiffin needs to be exonerated here. As a head coach at FAU, I do sometimes wonder what is so fascinating about a former place with all these everyday things that go on with the program. Then I think about his maturity level and it's just a reminder that this is why he was asked to leave.

So he has Bama connections, so what? So did Smart and now Pruitt. They both act like they got more important things to do.

My point is that there are some folks on this site that argued ardently about how Kiffin wouldn't know anything about Tua or his situation, and how content Tua was to ride the pine... So maybe it's time to acknowledge they were wrong?

Refresher:
Football - Kiffin says Tua was going to transfer

 

[TerryP]

and how content Tua was to ride the pine...

Those were his words, not some arbitrarily made up on one of the forums.

As a head coach at FAU, I do sometimes wonder what is so fascinating about a former place with all these everyday things that go on with the program. Then I think about his maturity level and it's just a reminder that this is why he was asked to leave.

So he has Bama connections, so what? So did Smart and now Pruitt. They both act like they got more important things to do

I get this. One, he's answering the phone and then being asked questions about Bama. He has a unique insight and loves the spotlight--more than one coming from these commentaries.

Smart and Pruitt are different scenarios. They are coaching against Bama as a conference opponent. I hold serious doubt Lane would be answering calls about Bama if he were coaching at another SEC school today (IE: at LSU, et. al.)

 

[Tidestalker]

and how content Tua was to ride the pine...

Those were his words, not some arbitrarily made up on one of the forums.

And so are these.

As noted in the linked thread... Just because someone is saying the "right thing" doesn't mean they're telling the truth. Tough situation he was in

 

[BamaFan334]

Welp, from the horses mouth... I know a lot of folks on here were coming down on Kiffin because he said his piece on Tua. But it turns out he was pretty damn accurate.

Credit to Tua for saying the right things publicly and putting on a strong front... Kid has a ton of character. But the real question is - How did Saban come that close to losing Tua for good? Looking back and knowing what a gamer the kid is, and how mightly Jalen struggled, having Tua rotting away on the bench is head scratching at best.

It appears to have worked out now barring another personnel debacle. RTR

I agree with you on Kiffin. He catches a lot of hell out there for the things he says, but he is usually right in what he voices. He is a lot like me where I will simply say what others are thinking and know, but others don't like it because they want to escape reality and live in an imaginary world.

Part of me is seeing this taken way out of context. I'm sure at moments of weakness the questioning of the coaches and wanting to go and play somewhere came into his head. I am willing to bet Damien Harris, Scarbrough, Jacobs, and Najee all had the same idea at some point when they weren't getting twenty carries a game. It's not a bad thing to have an alternate plan if things don't go your way, it's actually the reason so many folks in this country have issues because they don't plan and simply think nothing in their life can go wrong. I just think Tua was looking forward if there wasn't a change that was made and questioning his decisions. We all do it. I'm seeing it as a point to be made to the youngsters to never give up on yourself and always keep working, because it only takes one opportunity to change your life forever.

 

[JoshB]

and how content Tua was to ride the pine...

Those were his words, not some arbitrarily made up on one of the forums.

And so are these.

As noted in the linked thread... Just because someone is saying the "right thing" doesn't mean they're telling the truth. Tough situation he was in

I'm gonna just agree with myself here...

Yes, when you're the backup you're forced to lie.

Do you have a significant other, Terry? What do you tell her when she asks if she looks fat in an outfit? If you were to somehow answer inaccurately, does that make you a liar or a good partner? opcorn2:

No chance Tua was staying to backup Jalen. He saw what most of us posters saw at QB ahead of him. Now had Saban "promised" him an open competition heading into Spring and ACTUALLY GAVE HIM ONE, maybe Saban avoids losing him. But I'm pretty sure Saban "promised" him the same out of HS otherwise he wouldn't have come. And again, as the season progressed, we could all see what our QB position became (well, some of us).

But I'm on the Kiffin train here... Choo Choo.

You're on whatever train matches up with the narrative you want to believe. That's pretty obvious.

It's pretty clear the minute you saw this recent article you just wanted to bring up the other thread to show how right you were about believing Kiffin. As if somehow people were stupid to believe Tua's own words. Look, we get it. Tua is a god, should have been starting since day one, Saban was an idiot for not doing, blah, blah, blah. Let it go. You were so ready to go the "told ya so" route you went right along with the ESPN narrative of the story ("Tua was going to leave") despite the point Tua was attempting to make to the high school kids, which was "you have to work through the tough times and not give up."

 

[TUSKtimes]

My point is that there are some folks on this site that argued ardently about how Kiffin wouldn't know anything about Tua or his situation, and how content Tua was to ride the pine... So maybe it's time to acknowledge they were wrong?

To each their own, but you do realize we are all over here reading the tea leaves and giving our personal opinion. In this case, I don't know if Tua would have left especially after the pow wow with Dad. I know, that if I was adamant about leaving and family was onboard, then what has really changed? Realistically, Tua hasn't won anything yet. Wouldn't the backdoor still be ajar? Yet, not only did Tua sound like he has just come out of the dark in the Hawaii interview, his little brother, the guy everyone wants, suddenly commits to the Tide on A-Day. If their is any lingering doubt, any ongoing discouragement, as close as that family is, Lia is feeling the repercussions of that as well. Again, just reading the tea leaves, but given that the QB contest is still on this feels like a complete 180 on Tua's part or he was just going through some growing pains.

 

[Tidestalker]

It's pretty clear the minute you saw this recent article you just wanted to bring up the other thread to show how right you were about believing Kiffin. As if somehow people were stupid to believe Tua's own words. Look, we get it. Tua is a god, should have been starting since day one, Saban was an idiot for not doing, blah, blah, blah. Let it go. You were so ready to go the "told ya so" route you went right along with the ESPN narrative of the story ("Tua was going to leave") despite the point Tua was attempting to make to the high school kids, which was "you have to work through the tough times and not give up."

Less talking, more listening would do you some good... Told ya so

 

[Tidestalker]

My point is that there are some folks on this site that argued ardently about how Kiffin wouldn't know anything about Tua or his situation, and how content Tua was to ride the pine... So maybe it's time to acknowledge they were wrong?

To each their own, but you do realize we are all over here reading the tea leaves and giving our personal opinion. In this case, I don't know if Tua would have left especially after the pow wow with Dad. I know, that if I was adamant about leaving and family was onboard, then what has really changed? Realistically, Tua hasn't won anything yet. Wouldn't the backdoor still be ajar?

You're kidding, right?

He was the offensive MVP of the National Championship game after orchestrating one of the greatest and most improbable comebacks of all time, in his first experience of a game in question. I would say that's a significant change

 

[JoshB]

It's pretty clear the minute you saw this recent article you just wanted to bring up the other thread to show how right you were about believing Kiffin. As if somehow people were stupid to believe Tua's own words. Look, we get it. Tua is a god, should have been starting since day one, Saban was an idiot for not doing, blah, blah, blah. Let it go. You were so ready to go the "told ya so" route you went right along with the ESPN narrative of the story ("Tua was going to leave") despite the point Tua was attempting to make to the high school kids, which was "you have to work through the tough times and not give up."

Less talking, more listening would do you some good... Told ya so

Boy you really told us. You believed a known liar because he was saying something you WANTED to believe.