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Tua Tagovailoa, as a freshman backup quarterback, once took over the college football national championship game for Jalen Hurts and delivered the walk-off touchdown pass in overtime to lead that Alabama team to the title over Georgia.
For that and how Tagovailoa then supplanted Hurts moving forward for the Crimson Tide, their careers will always be linked. Now, as both are starting NFL quarterbacks heading into critical third professional seasons, they crossed paths once again.
There wasn’t nearly as much on the line this time. They’re just practicing — Tagovailoa against the Eagles defense, Hurts against the Dolphins defense — as the teams took part in the first of two joint practices on Wednesday. With Saturday night’s preseason meeting between the Dolphins and Eagles at Hard Rock Stadium the finale to the exhibition season, neither may even play, given a priority to keep the quarterbacks healthy for the regular season and the opportunity for end-of-the-roster players to get a chance to compete for the final spots.
But the joint setting did allow Tagovailoa to catch up briefly with Hurts during practice. After drills, he reminisced with the media about his time with the Eagles signal-caller. Knowing the competition he was getting himself into as a five-star recruit going to Alabama, which already had Hurts there, prepared Tagovailoa for the NFL.
“I knew when I went to Alabama, I’d have to compete and compete against a guy that was really good,” Tagovailoa said after a solid Wednesday session that involved a number of impressive throws. “The year before that, he was the SEC Player of the Year at the time and he led his team to the national championship. So, I knew what I was up against, but at the same time, when you go to a place like that, the standards are high, expectations are extremely high, as well, because of the success that they’ve had.
“You’ve got to go out there and compete every day, and I would say that’s how being at a place like Alabama has helped set up success for me coming into the NFL — is nothing’s given to you. You got to earn everything.”
Tagovailoa saw what hard work at the college level looked like from backing up Hurts before he got to take the reins with the Crimson Tide.
“[Hurts] is a hard worker in the weight room, in the classroom and then on the field,” said Tagovailoa. “The dude had to be the first into the weight room, he had to be the first out onto the field — like sprints, he had to be first.
“It really tells you how he goes about his life. It tells you about how he kind of sees things and how he looks at things. Obviously, he’s a competitor. He never wants to be last, so that should tell you a lot about him.”
After getting benched in that title game against Georgia in favor of Tagovailoa, Hurts remained with Alabama as Tagovailoa’s backup in 2018. Alabama reached another national championship but lost to Clemson. Hurts then transferred to Oklahoma and had a standout 2019 season, where he finished second in Heisman Trophy voting to former LSU and now Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
That same 2019 season, Tagovailoa’s college career was cut short due to a hip injury suffered that November. Long thought of as the 2020 draft’s top quarterback, Burrow’s year combined with Tagovailoa’s injury caused Tagovailoa to slide in the draft — but not too far, to the Dolphins at No. 5. Hurts was selected by the Eagles in the second round, No. 53 overall.
Tagovailoa is 13-8 in Miami over 21 starts, completing 66.2 percent of passes for 4,467 yards for 27 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. In Hurts’ two pro seasons in Philadelphia, he is 9-10, reaching the NFC playoffs last year, with a 59-percent completion rate, 4,205 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Hurts also has 1,138 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground to his credit while those numbers for Tagovailoa are 237 and six, respectively.
The two remain in contact via text “quite a large amount,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday. They text about common opponents, exchanging notes to help each other out.
Beyond the Alabama quarterbacks, it had to feel more like a homecoming at Wednesday’s joint practice with Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith on the other side. Smith was the freshman on the receiving end of the championship-clinching touchdown from Tagovailoa that night when he took over for Hurts.
Smith and Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle hung out after Wednesday’s practice as Waddle, who didn’t participate in drills with a sleeve on his right leg, caught passes of the Jugs machine. Other Alabama players between the two rosters include Dolphins nose tackle Raekwon Davis and Eagles offensive guard Landon Dickerson.
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