HOOVER, Ala., — The comparison took Tua Tagovailoa by surprise. While facing a barrage of questions during last week’s SEC Media Days, the Alabama quarterback paused when asked, “Are you aware that you are like a little mini Saban?”
“I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not,” Tagovailoa said before breaking out into a laugh.
At first glance, it might be hard to draw a likeness between the easy-going Hawaiian and the 67-year-old head coach. Although, when you listen to each of them speak, the discrepancy isn’t so severe.
Take Tagovailoa’s response on Alabama’s 44-16 loss to Clemson in last season’s national championship game for example.
“I think it’s good to both get the opportunity to win and have the opportunity to lose as well,” Tagovailoa said. “I know this sounds bad, but I’m glad I had that opportunity to feel a loss like that. Because what can you learn from a win? You can’t learn as much. But when you lose, you start appreciating things a lot more and definitely in a different perspective as well. I’m kind of glad that we (lost), and many lessons have been learned from that loss.”
Now consider what head coach Nick Saban had to say about Alabama’s national championship loss to Clemson in 2017.
“Well, I think there’s lessons to be learned,” Saban said on SportCenter two summers ago. “You never want to waste the opportunity for anything. Not a practice, not a play, nothing. So, when you have an experience like this where there’s a lot of opportunities for you to learn from the mistakes that you made, the failure that you’ve had. That’s something you want to grow and that’s something you want to build on. You don’t want it to be a negative, you want it to be a positive. Not something that frustrates you but something that challenges you to try to improve.”
Sound familiar?
While Tagovailoa doesn't believe he's completely like his head coach, the junior has come to terms with the comparison.
“I think the biggest difference with us though would probably be the personality. Coach Saban’s personality is different," Tagovailoa said. "I mean, if we kind of talk similar, I’d be happy. That’s pretty good because I watch his (news conferences) sometimes, and he sounds pretty good.”
It’s obvious Tagovailoa was listening as Saban challenged him earlier in the summer by stating, “I think he should take the perception that he has a lot to prove.” The remark prompted the quarterback to initiate a rigorous offseason routine which resulted in him shedding 15 pounds since spring camp.
“It was very important to get back into shape,” Tagovailoa said. “I feel a lot healthier. It’s all about doing things the right way for Coach Saban.”
Tagovailoa admits Saban’s tough-love approach is not always easy to endure. After all, the Heisman finalist is coming off a season in which he passed for an Alabama single-season record 43 touchdowns and 3,966 passing yards while leading the nation with a 199.4 quarterback rating.
“Coach Saban is someone who’s really hard on you,” Tagovailoa said. “Not too many people like that. But I think you need someone like that in pretty much every organization to set the standard straight, set everyone straight, get everything the way it needs to be rowed.”
Then again, that sounds a lot like Tagovailoa’s mindset heading into this season.
“The success that I had last year is just last year,” Tagovailoa said. “We need to keep focusing on who we can be this year as far as a team, and we will go from there.”
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Andrew Bone, of BamaInsider.com, is a real estate broker in the state of Alabama.
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