Tua describes early-morning film session with younger brother Lia
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The lessons continued long after the final whistle blew. Tucked away inside of Alabama’s Mal Moore Athletic Facility, one last study session ensued as Tua Tagovailoa broke down film of Saturday’s scrimmage with his brother Lia in the early hours of the morning Sunday.
“I had the opportunity to bring my brother up here late at night, probably about 12:30 to 1, and just sat down with him in our offensive staff meeting room and just watched film with him,” Tua said. “He just wanted to know the things that I’m seeing out there and I got to help him with that. But just with the guys in the quarterback room, things that I see as well, or maybe if they did this, my input on it. So just little things like that.”
Saturday was Lia's first big test since he arrived as an early enrollee earlier this year. According to sources at the closed scrimmage, the four-star freshman put together a solid performance. Saturday, head coach Nick Saban announced Lia earned some reps with the second-team offense while also mentioning fellow early enrollee Paul Tyson.
“We need to kind of see who's going to be the next best guy and if anybody can challenge the first two guys,” Saban said. “That's kind of where we are today and that's how we had it planned. I think those guys have a ways to go. First time out there, they did some good things but it was also pretty obvious that it was their first time out there."
Unlike recent years, Saban had no problem labeling Tua the “obvious starter” heading into the season. After that, the race for backup behind the Heisman runner-up is a little more fluid. Saban called redshirt sophomore Mac Jones the “next-best player” at quarterback after Tua. However, the coach signified that he is also willing to provide meaningful reps for his two freshmen passers as well.
“I think they need the reps though,” Tua said. “God forbid anything does happen again to me. But I think the experience that these guys get with taking reps with the ones taking reps with the twos, it’s going to be really a big difference."
Hence the early morning meeting with his younger brother. Despite Lia’s promising day, Tua said there was still “a lot of things he can work on.”
“We talked about it in our quarterback room, things that I can work on, things that the other quarterbacks can work on,” Tua said. “It’s all about getting better in our quarterback room. So he knows he’s got to get better, and we all know we’ve got to get better. We’ve just got to push ourselves and one another.”
Stepping into more of a leadership role in Alabama’s offense, Tua has appeared to try and distance himself from the big-brother narrative surrounding him and Lia. While he wants his younger brother to succeed, the veteran quarterback is also making sure to provide the same amount of guidance to Jones as well as early enrollee Paul Tyson.
“This is a great learning experience and an opportunity for the older guys to help out a lot of the younger guys,” Tua said. “Early enrollees, guys that didn’t get as much playing time last year. It’s a great way for us to kind of hone in our experiences and share with them and kind of help them get better and hopefully reach their full potential as well.”
Alabama returned to the practice field Monday and will hold two more practices leading up to its second scrimmage on Saturday.
